


Dragons & Directions

by daphneti



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Battle Scenes, Dragons, Fantasy, Healers, Sirens, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-22 17:28:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 30,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4844102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daphneti/pseuds/daphneti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is part of a rich family, Liam is soon to become chief of Hosflond,  Zayn and Imara live to help save injured dragons, Niall travels the world, and Louis steal from villages for the heck of it. But one event can change a person's whole life around in a matter of seconds, and in this case, stealing a cute green dragon will change all of theirs.</p>
<p>or the one where Harry steals a baby dragon and is forced to leave home and ends up meeting Louis, Niall, Zayn, and Imara as they all go on this crazy adventure to help Liam come back to his senses to save his land from evil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by fan art/AU drawings made by invisibleinnocence (CHECK HIM OUT!)  
> I've been writing this story on Wattpad for a while now and decided to bring it on over here. The story on Wattpad is still in process and is unedited, but if you want to continue reading this story than you can go on over there. However, I am planning on making this story slightly different to the one on over there. I would also like add that this story is an ADVENTURE STORY, which mean hardly any romance. I hint some stuff, but nothing that takes away from the adventure (please don't hate me, I'm just not good with the whole romance writing ). 
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoy :)

Awakened by the warm sun hitting his face, Harry groaned and covered his face with his blankets. It was only Tuesday and Harry did not want to go do his court duties. Sure the job allowed him to provide a lovely home for his mom, sister and stepdad, but it's oh so boring! Robin, his step father, wanted harry to follow in his footsteps and one day work for city council. Which meant attending meetings about the same subject: how to continue making Berk a safe haven for the people and the dragons. Oh the dragons. Harry loved dragons. He knew everything about them: the different classes, their special abilities, and their characteristics. But yet, Harry had yet to see a dragon in person; being an upper class citizen restricted him from socializing with dragons. The only people who owned dragons were the middle and lower class, since most dragons are used to help cut wood to build homes, collect food for merchants, and protect Berk from others who tried to raid their town. In Harry's eyes, that didn't seem fair, but that's just how things were. 

The shower was refreshing. It did wonders to his mood, thankfully brightening the thought of having to spend all day in the courts. Exiting the shower, he dressed in comfort; lord knows he knew what a bad idea it was to wear anything slightly uncomfortable when venturing to the courts. He brushed his dark hair back in to a ponytail, tying it with a piece of string he had laying around. He briefly remembered his older sister using it to tie up her own hair at one point. The noble then proceeded to downstairs. He was greeted with the sight of his mother and sister eating breakfast at the table

"Morning Harry," said Anne with a warm smile on her face.

"Mornin' mom," Harry replied as he walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek and sitting next to her.

"What? No 'Good Morning' to me ay?" Gemma interrupted with a playful look on her face.

"I was about to until you so rudely interrupted me," he said sarcastically giving her a a cheeky smile. His older sister smiled at him before continuing to eat her breakfast.

"Where's Rob?" Harry asked.

"He had to leave in the middle of the night because a dragon rider attacked one of the shops. Third time this month." Anne frowned, worry etched onto her face.

"A dragon rider? Really!?"

"Yes, but he should be back soon for breakfast." She moved her eggs around the plate, waiting for them to cool down. "Anything exciting going on today love?"

The young boy sighed. "If you call a day filled with boring meetings and paperwork exciting, then yes."

"Oh, you say that every day."

"That's because that's all we do everyday!"

Trying to salvage his good mood, he served himself some eggs, bacon, and banana pancakes with a glass of milk. He was so hungry; he finished his plate in less than five minutes and served himself more.

"Geez Harry, slow down before you choke on your pancakes!" His mother exclaimed, shooting him a look. 

Wiping the crumbs off his face with the sleeve of his shirt, "I'm sorry mom, but I was hungry and the food is so good!"

He continued to scarf down the food until he glanced a looked at the clock.

"Ah! I have to be at a meeting in 10 mins!"

He got up from his chair, kissed his mom and sister goodbye before he grabbed his coat and ran out the door. Thankfully he managed to dodge the top of the door, sometimes he cursed his height. God, puberty had been horrifying when he had grown a few inches.

Harry got to his meeting on time and spent the whole day listening to a bunch of men talk about stuff that he had no interest in. It was now 5pm which meant that work was over for the day.

"Thank goodness" Harry thought as he got up from his chair and walked out the building.

Some of the men from the council invited him to go grab some fish sandwiches at a little shop a few buildings down, but he had other plans. He wanted to go check out the damage that the dragon rider had done in the shop. 

He has been to the village before, but for business purposes only, never getting the chance to look at what the shops there had to offer. Because the village was so far away from his home, he only went to the shops near him. Going to the village by foot was going to take him almost an hour. He could borrow his step dad's horse and ride over there, but he preferred to walk. He found it quite calming as well and relaxing, unlike his other friends who found it disgusting and filthy. They much prefer to take the horses than having their boots dirty and scraped.

Harry finally got to the village and went to look for the damaged shop. Honestly, it wasn't hard to miss. The shop's doors were burned off with bits and pieces of food everywhere. The dragon rider's only purpose was to steal as much food as he or she could get. Almost all the fruits and vegetable were gone and the fish basin was completely empty. Luckily, there are other markets filled with food for the people to go to but still, that wasn't nice.

After taking a look at the shop, Harry saw that he still had time before dinner to look around the village. He went to go look at the little shops where they sold beautiful jewelry and charms, bakeries filled with different kinds of bread and treats, and blacksmiths making swords and armor for the Vikings and the dragons.

After walking out of the blacksmith, he saw the path where all the people who raised, cared, trained, and worked with the beasts lived. It was also known as The Village of the Dragons. He had always wanted to go in there and see the magnificent creatures, but he never had the guts to, but today was different. He felt as though he needed to go. He walked down the path for a few minutes until he saw a sign that said, "CAUTION: ENTER AT OWN RISK"

This was it. He can either turn back now or walk straight forward. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and continued to walk. He finally came upon a huge gate that was probably six times taller than he was. There were no key or locks to prevent him from going in. He looked around to see if there was anyone guarding the door or hiding behind some trees ready to attack. Nothing. The noble closed his eyes and pushed the doors open. He opened his eyes and saw what he thought was something from a dream. Dragons everywhere. He couldn't believe it; there were so many! He saw dragons from the stoker class breathing out fire to warm up the water to boil the fish. He turned around and saw dragons from the Boulder class breaking down trees, helping the lumberjacks collect the wood. He felt a few drops of water hitting his face and looked up and saw a group of tidal class dragons flying towards the ocean, probably to gather water or fish. 

He snapped back into reality and started to walk around. The dragons roamed around freely and the vibe was absolutely amazing. He continued to walk around for a few minutes until he came across a shop where it looked like they were nurturing baby dragons! Harry ran into the shop and saw the shop filled with the little beasts that were flying around swooping left and right! Some learning how to use their new wings and others learning how to control their fiery breath. The younglings kept on crashing into him and were knocking things over, causing a mess. He walked around the shop more and saw pictures of the different egg types; there were so many shapes and sizes, some that he had never read or even heard about. He always gets excited for when hatching season comes around, but he hates having to wait until spring for it to happen. Through all madness, the curly haired boy saw something from the corner of his eye: a little green dragon in a cage near the back of the store, behind some old egg shells and other junk. He was curious as to why this dragon was put over there in a cage and not flying around like the others. He walked towards the cage and bent his knees to get a better look. This was the first time Harry saw a dragon so up close; it's skin looked ruff and its wings looked so thin, the scales on its back had a slight gold tint to them and its horns were just starting to grow; they even had a slight curl to them. The dragon looked at Harry with annoyance ; it didn't like the fact that this tall giant was looking at him with those strong green eyes. The dragon started to tense up and he noticed this sudden change in mood. All Harry's knowledge of dragons disappeared and he started to panic. What do you do if a dragon starts to tense up? He tried to find something around him like a piece of fish or a toy, but there was absolutely nothing. The dragon started to get into a defense position, ready to attack him. He couldnt figure out what to do so he just stood there smiling like an idiot. 

"What the heck are you smiling at!?"

Harry turned around and saw this short man with charcoal black hair and beard. He had a round belly that stuck out, probably drinking a few pints too many, with a blue baby dragon wrapped his chubby neck.

"Oh, sorry I was just having a look around" trying not to look like he just had a stroke.

"Are you from City Hall?" the stubby man shouted.

"Oh no, I'm umm here to umm buy a dragon." He could not believe the words that just came out of his mouth.

"Yer don't look like a fisherman or a lumberjack who needs one?" said the stubby man curiously.

Shit.

"Can't I just buy one. I mean it's not illegal to have one"

"No, it's not, but your kind doesn't socialize with these beast."

My kind? Oh yeah, the rich, snobby kind.

"Well, I, uh ... want that green one!" he said as he pointed to the cage.

The merchant laughed at Harry and walked away.

"He's not for sale. He's no good"

"Why not? He seems perfectly fine to me"

The merchant turned around and walked towards Harry with an ugly look.

"To yer he seems fine, but I know that that dragon will never amount to anything"

"What do you mean"

The merchant rolled his eyes, sighed and walked towards the cage.

"This dragon was born too small and his wings are too weak to hold him up. He won't be able to fly right and will be no good."

Knowing that the dragon was like this made him want it more.

"Well, I, uh... I still want it."

"I told yer no."

"Then what are you going to do with him?"

The merchant looked at Harry with a devilish smile.

"Let's just say that his skin will be keeping my feet warm for when winter comes"

Harry knew that when a dragon died, its skin was used to make clothes for the people, but killing a baby dragon because of its flaws was something he never heard of.

"No you can't do that!"

"I do what I want because it's my shop! If you are not going to buy another dragon then get the fuck out of me shop!"

The noble was furious. He scowled at the merchant and stormed out of there.

He could not believe what he just heard, but he knew that he wasn't going to leave the dragon there to die. The gentle giant decided that he was going to wait until the merchant left the shop to steal the dragon.

Harry went into the woods and stayed there until it got dark, even though this meant that he would miss dinner and will make his parents worry.

After an hour of waiting out, he saw the merchant walk out of the gated area and meet up with some of the other workers. He waited for them to be as far away as possible so he could go in. After they disappeared, he walked towards the gate, opened it, and walked straight to the merchant shop. Harry tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge, so he to tried one of the windows; all of them were locked except one. He opened it and saw all the baby dragons sleeping around the hut. Even though Harry was tall enough to see through the window, he still had to jump up to be able to get in. He jumped up and pushed himself up onto the bottom of the window. He placed his stomach onto the bottom of the window and wiggled his way inside the shop. He finally made it in and looked for the cage; it was now hanging from the roof. He quietly walked towards the cage, trying not wake up babies. The green dragon was curled up with his head hidden behind its wing.

"Aww it looks so cute" Harry whispered.

The green dragon slowly woke up and was startled by the giant.

"Hey buddy! I'm going to get you out of here alright?" 

The dragon looked at Harry and tilted its head confused.

The noble grabbed the cage and wrapped his arms around it. He started to walk over to the window, but then realized that he would have to throw the dragon down in order for him to get out. He decided to go out the entrance instead. He slowly walked towards the door; he checked to see if there wasn't some bell or noise maker at the top of the door before opening it. THe coast was clear and he walked out. 

"Wow, that was easier than I thought" he said to the dragon that was still nervous. He walked towards the gate thinking that all was well.

"WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!"

He looked up startled and saw a something fly across the sky with speed. He didn't know what it was but he knew it meant that he needed to get out of there now!

He heard the roar of a dragon and stopped in his tracks. He looked up again and saw this huge black dragon up in the sky. Harry stood there in shock at how large and terrifying it looked.

The dragon made eye contact with Harry and scowled, cuing to run. He ran out the entrance, running towards the village, causing the little green dragon to bounce up and down in its cage. As he ran down the path, he saw a group of men from the main village coming towards him and in the crowd was the merchant. He quickly ran into the woods and hid behind a wide tree trunk as he saw the mob run by.

"That darn dragon rider is stealing our food again!"

"Quick! Get some dragons from the tracker class to track down who that son of a bitch was!"

"Two dragon rider attacks in a row?" Harry said breathing heavily.

He turned his back against the trunk and looked to see if the dragon was okay. The dragon seemed fine, but slightly sick from all that bouncing he had just been through. As he was looking at the dragon, he saw two glowing red eyes watching him from between the bars of the cage. Harry panicked and started to run farther into the forest. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to run somewhere. He turned his head around and saw the black dragon right behind him. He ran faster and changed directions, hoping that he would not see those red eyes. He turned his head around again and there it was, still hot on his trail. He continued running until he tripped on a rock and flew into the air. The noble kept the caged dragon close to his body, protecting it as they hit the ground; they rolled until they hit the bark of a tree. He quickly jumped on his feet and turned around thinking that this was it for him and the baby, but to his luck, the black dragon was nowhere to be seen. Harry stood there confused and out of breath. He looked around him trying to find the same red eyes that sent shivers through his spine, but all he saw were trees and bushes. He sighed in relief and looked at the little dragon to see if it was okay. The baby was fine, but the noble decided that it would be best to let the dragon out of his cage. He placed the cage down and unlocked it. Harry took a few steps back and sat on the ground with his legs crisscrossed waiting for it to come out. The dragon slowly walked out from the cage and stood right in front of him. He looked at the small beast and smiled like he did earlier. The dragon just stood there timidly. He put out his right hand towards the dragon and hoped that it didn't burn his fingers off. The dragons slowly went towards his hand and started to smell his fingers. It then cautiously climbed onto Harry's leg and then sat in the little hole that his crossed legs were making. Harry went to pet the dragon, but the dragon tensed up again. He smiled again and placed his hand in front of the dragon for him to smell reassuring the dragon that he meant no harm; it smelled it again and then rubbed its head against the young boy's hand. Harry couldn't believe that he was interacting with a dragon! The dragon crawled up on to Harry's shoulders and licked his face. He chuckled and started to pet the dragon.

"I guess this mean you don't mind hanging around with me huh?" The dragon purred in response. "which mean I get to name you. Wow. Me naming a dragon. Never thought this day would come." He grabbed a hold of the dragon and carried him in from of his face, examining it. Hoping if he stared long enough the name would come to him naturally. "You know what? You look like a Filbert." The dragon tilted its head with curiosity.

"Can I call you Filbert?"

The dragon continued to look at Harry for a moment then proceeded to lick his face again.

"I'll take that as a yes!"

"Who the fuck calls a dragon Filbert!?"

Harry and Filbert both looked up as they heard the rustle of the leaves coming towards them from behind a large bush.

Harry quickly gets up and is about to make a run for it when he sees the black dragon blocking his path.

"No, honestly Filbert?"

He turns back towards the voice, startled again. He sees a man a few inches smaller than him come closer to where the moonlight is slightly shined a light through the branches.

"I mean you could of given it a better name than that? What about *pft* I don't know Sypro or Draco?"

He had strong blue eyes and messy chopped hair with a piece of lettuce in it. A piece of lettuce? Harry saw that he had a huge satchel of food hanging from his side. Way too much for one single person.

"You're the dragon rider!? The one that has been stealing all the food!" He pointed.

"Not all of it." The rider said rolling his eyes. "There are plenty of other shops filled with food here. Me stealing from two shops is not a big deal. And please, don't point fingers. It’s rude."

"No! I'm going to report you to the council so you can pay for the damage you have done to the village!"

"Mmmm, yeah, that's not going to happen. See, as I was flying back from the village, I noticed someone sneaking out of one of the little huts with a caged dragon."

Harry held his tongue.

"And I see that there is a cage tossed to the side and hey what do you know?! You carrying a dragon that looks like it fits into that cage." He said with his hip cocked to the side and his hand tapping his cheek. "Now I did steal a bit of food which was wrong, but stealing a dragon is far worse, correct?"

"Ummmm I uh...."

"Especially for someone like you who looks like your from the upper class. I mean, you could turn me in to the council and I'd be locked up for a few days, which is something I don't want to do..."

Harry knew where the rider was going with this.

"... or I could ask my lovely dragon here to grab you and Filbert, take you to the council myself, and have you put in jail for the rest of your life."

He was lost for words.

"Now we wouldn't want that now would we? Ooo! I have an idea! How about we act like none of this ever happened, yeah?"

Harry wanted to bring justice to the damage that the rider had done, but he didn't want to get in trouble.

"Fine. I'll let this slide."

The black dragon huffed at Harry as the rider climbed onto its back and prepared to take off. The rider steered the dragon more towards him.

"Good. I didn't catch your name; what was it?"

"I never told you my name."

Louis sat there ignoring his comment and waited for a response. "Ummm okay, well, I'm Harry from Berk."

"Well, Harry from Berk, I'm Louis."

The noble nodded, cautiously watching the black dragon and her red eyes.

"It was nice meeting you, but Vaara and I must be on our way."

Vaara walked backwards to give her a running start sprinted forward into the forest.

The ground shook under Harry's feet; he heard the sound of branches breaking in the distance and saw Louis and Vaara suddenly fly into the sky. That was terrifyingly amazing; he had just met a dragon rider! He turned to Filbert, who was sat on his shoulders, and patted his head. He brushed himself off and started finding his way back to the path. Along the way, he thought about what he was going to do with Filbert. If he takes it back to the merchant because that would mean it would get killed, but if he goes back home, he would be punished for stealing a dragon.

He finally reached the path but still could not decide on what to do. Filbert was now snuggled up around his neck, keeping it warm. The baby was drifting off to sleep, with the rhythmic up-and-downs of his breath; the dragon looked so calm and peaceful. He looked back to the Village of the Dragons and turned his heel and started walking back home. He didn't know how he was going to sneak in a baby dragon into his house but he would think of something one the way there.

Harry walked off of the path and onto the streets of his neighborhood. It was late at night so no one was around to see him, but he was on edge. Any sound he would hear made him turn his head and break a slight sweat. He walked up to the entrance of his house and almost opened the door, but stopped because Filbert huffed into his ear. He almost forget that there was a baby dragon sleeping on his shoulder. He gently shimmied so that the baby would wake up. Filbert slowly opened his eyes and yawned. With his parental instincts kicking in, he detached the dragon from his shoulder onto his hands. He took off his black coat from one side and passed the dragon into his other hand to get his other arm out. He swaddled the dragon with his coat and opened the door.

"HARRY, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

He almost dropped Filbert at the sound of his mother yelling. He saw her immediately get up from one of the chairs in the dinning room and quickly walk towards him.

"We were worried about you, " she said as she hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry, I decided to walk down to the village and go look at the shops."

"We have shops here, why didn't you..." she looked at her son realizing his real intentions on going over there. She could practically see straight through him. "You went to go see the shop that was attacked by the dragon rider didn't you?"

"Erm... yeah"

"Harry!"

"I'm sorry, but when you told me about the attack this morning I wanted to go see it myself."

He heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. His step dad reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards Anne and Harry.

"You shouldn't have gone over there," Robin said with a strict tone "the dragon rider attacked again today and you could of gotten hurt."

"The rider attacked again?!" Anne turns to her son, checking to see if he had any injuries.

"I'm fine mom" But Anne continued to check. He saw that she was about to grab his coat, but Harry quickly grabbed her hands and reassured her that he was okay. "I'm sorry for making you guys worried, it won't happen again."

He pretended to yawn and rub his eyes. "I'm so tired; gunna wash up and go to bed."

"You're not going to eat dinner? I could warm it up for you"

"I'm not hungry. Had a big lunch earlier, but I'm sure that the food was amazing," He said as he rubbed his stomach, pretending that he was stuffed. 

He gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and patted Robin on the shoulder as he walked his way up the stairs.

He reached the top of the stairs and hastily walked to his room; he shut the door behind him and let out a sigh of relief. Harry walked over to his bed and placed the swaddled dragon onto it, unwrapping the baby carefully. The dragon was still drowsy from his nap earlier so it didn't seem bothered.

"Well, we made it safe and sound."

Harry started to gather a bunch of his dirty laundry into a pile for Filbert to sleep on and placed a bowl of water next to it. He tapped his arm and the dragon hobbled over and jumped onto it. He placed the dragon onto the bed and in less than 2 minutes, the dragon was sound asleep.

For the next couple of days, Harry did his best to hide Filbert. He would wake up at the crack of dawn and walk down to the kitchen to grab some fish for his companion. Before he would leave, he locked the door every time he left his room, hoping his parents or his sister wouldn't find out. He would even come home and find some of his clothes and bed sheets slightly burned. Filbert was a handful, but he much rather have him here than with the merchant.

After coming home from work one day, he walked into his room and found the little guy eating his dinner.

"Hey Filbert. How are you doing bubs?"

Filbert squawked at Harry and proceeded to eat. Harry smiled and went into his bathroom to shower and go downstairs for dinner. He finished showering and was in the bathroom drying himself off when he heard Gemma yell; he had forgotten to lock his bedroom door. He quickly covered himself with a robe and ran out.

"HARRY, WHY IS THERE A DRAGON IN YOUR ROOM!?"

"Gemma, please calm down! Mom and Rob will hear you” he shouted as he stood in front of the green dragon.

"YOU'RE NOT ANSWERING ME!?"

"I need you to relax okay. Please, just calm down."

Gemma slightly calmed down and he sat her down onto his bed.

"Okay," she said, looking at the dragon that was now spewing small balls of fire onto Harry's clothes "now tell me what's going on?"

Harry told her everything that happened a few days ago and why the dragon was here.

"And you've named it Filbert? Don't you realize when you named it, you start to get attached to it?"

"Of course I named it, it's my dragon!"

"You know that we are not allowed to have dragons, it's looked down upon!"

Harry got up from his bed, leaving a wet stain on the sheets.

"So what?! You know more than anyone that I have loved dragons ever since I was little. I read about them consistently! I would get in trouble in school for drawing pictures of them during class and know everything there is to know about dragons than anyone is the damn neighborhood!"

Gemma had never seen her brother argue about something so passionately. He walked towards the baby and tapped his arm for it to climb on. Filbert quickly ran up his arm and onto his shoulders.

"This little guy is the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time." He scratched the dragons chin, receiving a hum sound from the beast.

She couldn't believe what the words coming out of her brother's mouth, but she saw how he interacted with the dragon. It was almost as if the dragon and Harry had been each others companion for a very long time. She got up and walked towards them both. Gemma looked at her brother's eyes and then looked at Filberts, the curiosity getting to her.

"Can I?" gesturing if she could touch the little guy.

Harry nodded and Gemma cautiously placed her hand in front of the dragon. The baby looked at her with its yellow, almost gold like, eyes. Filbert smelled her hand and bowed his head, allowing her to pet him. She smiled and did so.

"He's not so bad now is he?"

"No, but" she stopped petting the baby and looked back at her brother, "I just don't want you to get in trouble."

"I won't, but you have to promise me you won't tell mom or Rob."

Gemma looked at Filbert, realizing how much this small creature meant so much to her brother. She sighed.

"I promise"

Harry gave her a hug and she quickly pushed him back, thinking that she quickly changed her mind.

"I better not see any of my clothes charred alright? Oh! And try to get rid of this fish smell."

He nodded and Gemma walked out of his room. He placed Filbert back onto its bed and swapped his robe for his pajamas. He covered himself with his sheets and fell asleep.

The next morning, Harry did his usual routine of getting the fish, showering, changing, locking the door, eating breakfast, and going to work. Everything seemed to be going well, maybe a little too well. He got off of work and started to make his way back home.

"HEY YER!"

He recognized the voice. He turned around and saw the horrible looking merchant across the street from him. The merchant started to run towards him yelling, "YER STOLE MY DRAGON!"

"Oh shit."

He dropped everything he was carrying and started running home. Luckily he was faster than the merchant, but the man knew what he looked like and was bound to ask someone where he lived. He got to the entrance of his home and saw his whole family sitting at the dinning table. They all saw the worried look on their loved one's face.

"Harry, what's going on?" said Robin.

Gemma looked at her brothers face and instantly knew what was wrong.

"I need to leave!" he said as he ran up the stairs.

"Leave? Harry, what's going on!?" His mother shouted as she, Rob, and Gemma got up and ran after him.

He unlocked his room and saw Filbert sound asleep on his bed. He quickly picked the baby up and grabbed his black coat, some clothes, and threw them in a bag. He heard his family run up the stairs and into his room.

"Harry why are you... *gasp*". His parents stood at the door, gobsmacked.

"Look, I don't have time to explain. I need to leave now!"

"Did you steal that dragon!?" said his step dad.

"Yes and I.."

"You know that stealing a dragon is illegal!"

"I know, but," Harry was interrupted by loud bangs coming from downstairs.

"Oh my..." Anne covered her mouth with her shaking hands.

"I'll explain it to them. You need to leave." Gemma gives her brother more clothes to put in his bag as she pushes Harry towards the window. The loud bangs were heard again.

"OPEN THE DOOR YOU THIEF!"

"Harry..."

He looked at his mom and his step dad who both looked heartbroken and distraught. He went up to his mom and gave her a kiss on the cheek along with a hug; followed up by him giving Robin a hug. He looked at his sister and she reassured him that this was the right thing to do.

"OPEN THE FUCKEN DOOR!"

He walked over towards the window and sat on the edge of it. Filbert went on to his shoulders and grabbed on to Harry. Harry turned around one last time towards his family and smiled.

"I love you and... I'm sorry."

He jumped off the window and landed onto the ground perfectly. He made sure that Filbert was okay. Harry looked up at his window and saw his family looking back at him. He didn't want to leave, but he needed to protect his dragon. He gave them a reassuring smile and ran into the woods. His backpack repeatedly slammed his back as he sprinted through the forest, dodging rocks, bushes, and tree branches. He ran for what seemed like hours until his legs finally gave out and dropped to the ground accidentally throwing Filbert off his shoulders. He rolled over onto his back and lay on the ground looking at the trees whilst trying to get his breathing back to normal. The baby made its way towards its companion and climbed onto his stomach. The dragon licked his face, reassuring the gentle giant that he was fine.

Harry looked straight forward at the woody heaven knew that at this very moment, his life would never be the same.

t started to get dark and Harry needed to find a place to rest for him and the dragon could rest. He found the comfiest looking tree to lie up against and set up camp for the night. He got out some of his clothes that Gemma put in his bag earlier and made a little bed for Filbert. He covered himself with what remained in the bag, but he was still cold no matter how many layers of clothes he would cover himself with. Filbert took notice of how his companion's body and how it would shiver and his teeth would chatter. The little baby walked over to him and curled up next to him. The noble felt his stomach become instantaneously warm and saw the dragon snuggled up against him.

"Thanks bubs." he whispered, finally falling asleep.

Harry was awakened by the sounds of birds chirping and the sun hitting his face. Suddenly, Filbert jumped on Harry, causing him to crunch forward and grunt.

"That's one way to wake me up," said the noble with an annoyed tone.

He got up, put away their "beds", and wandered off into the woods. As they walked, Harry had to stop to grab the baby from chasing all the critters that it would see and having to put out the small fires that it would cause. This little guy was becoming a handful, but he knew that raising a dragon was a difficult task.

***

It's been about five days since they fled Berk and Harry still had no idea where to go; he thought that he would have found a village by now. But what he could not believe was that they had managed to stay alive for this long by just eating plants and berries. The gentle giant remembered from one of his books that baby dragons can not go more than a week without fish, which meant that he needed to find a lake soon.

Harry was walking with Filbert, who was trotting along next to him, when he saw a lilac and blue dragonfly fly past him; this caught the baby's attention and it went running after the bug.

"FILBERT!" He whined as he chased after his companion.

As he ran, the ground went from solid to a softer more squishier texture. He noiticed that his boots and the bottoms of his pants were splattered with mud. He looked up and saw inbetween the trees a dark blue lake. He maneuvered his way towards pool of water and dropped his sack on top of a rock. Harry walked towards the shore, threw himself on his knees, and cupped his hands to serve himself some water. He drank it all up and felt the cold liquid run down his throat. He untied his hair and took his black coat off along with his clothes, boots, and jumped right in. The noble washed away all the dirt and sweat that had gathered on his skin as well as his brown locks. Harry floated on top of the water and from the corner of his eye saw his companion swatting one of its legs in the water. He remembered about the fish and swam out of the lake and onto shore. He quickly dried himself off with his shirt and changed, but when he went to help Filbert, the little guy was sitting next to a pile of fish.

"I feel like you're taking care of me instead of the other way around" he chuckled.

Filbert squawked at him and started to eat the fish. He decided that he was going to let the baby eat first, and then he would eat the leftovers. He started to gather the fish when Filbert squawked at him.

"What?"

The dragon grabbed one of the fish from his hand and climbed onto his shoulders, forcing the fish into the nobles mouth.

"Oh, you want me to eat it raw? Yeah, that's not going to happen bubs." said Harry and waited for Filbert to cause a small fire to roast his fish.

The sky started to turn orange, which meant that it was time to set up camp. Whilst he was setting up camp, he heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"Hey, how 'bout we get some fish before we go home?"

He walked towards the lake and Filbert followed. They both saw something standing on the other side next to a pair of red eyes; it was the dragon rider. Harry watched as the black dragon dived into the water and ,within seconds, come out with a pile of fish.

"Yes Vaara! Job well done!"

Vaara roared; the baby recognized who it was and tried to roar back.

"Filbert!"

The red eyes quickly turned towards them and growled.

"Who's there?" shouted Louis as he grabbed the fish and stuffed into a bag.

Harry grabbed FIlbert and ran towards the camp. When he got there, he grabbed all his clothes and stuffed them in his bag. He put out the small fire that Filbert made earlier and took off. Just then, the noble heard a loud thud from behind.The ground started to shake harder and heard them coming closer. He made the decision to climb up the tree they were standing next to. He put his hands on one of the branches, lifted himself up, and was almost half way up when he heard Louis.

"Hello?!"

Harry sat himself on a thick tree branch waited for the two, but all he saw was Louis.

"Vaara, did you find anything?"

The black beast came out of the darkness and spat out something in front of her companion.

"Bleh, What is tha...?" Louis turned to his dragon and cleared his throat.

"Well Vaara, I guess there is no one here," putting his hands on his hips; Vaara huffed as if she was agreeing with him. "The only good thing that came out of this was that we found this BLACK COAT"

Harry eyes widened; he looked in his bag and smacked his head as punishment for leaving it on the rock by the shore of the lake earlier.

"You know Vaara, this coat looks awfully familiar, and don't you think?" She squawked in response which made Filbert get excited.

Harry quickly turned his head and whispered, "Filbert, no. Don't..." He was cut off by the baby responding to Vaara.

Louis turned towards their hiding spot and walked towards it; he looked up and saw the two sitting on the branch.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Trying to hide from you."

"Well, you didn't do a very good job." Lifting up the soppy black coat.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"So, are you just going to stay up there or come down here? I don't bite."

Filbert instantly crawled off of the giants shoulders and climbed down the tree.

"Filbert!"

The baby dragon crawled towards Louis and Vaara. The rider tapped his thigh twice and the baby dragon climbed up his body and onto his shoulders.

"See?" said Louis while scratching the baby's chin.

The young boy sighed as he grabbed his bag and made his way down the tree. He brushed himself off and walked towards the group, but stopped when Vaara growled at Harry

"No Vaara, not yet."

"Not yet?" said the noble as his voice cracked.

"See, I made up a game that whoever found the person or at least a clue across the lake first, would be able to keep the person as a prize." said the rider with a smirk.

"You're joking?" Harry swore that the black dragon made an evil smirk towards him.

"Nope. Vaara found your coat which meant that she won fair and square, but before she claim you, I want to know why you're here alone in the woods?"

"Well, I was caught red handed."

"Whoa, you killed someone!?"

"What!? No! My family ,and probably by now all of Berk, found out that I stole Filbert."

"And so you ran away from home."

"yeah..."

"How long ago was this?"

"I don't know, probably 5 days."

"Well, I'm surprised that you and Fil have survived this long."

"I'm just as surprised as you are."

There was a slight awkward silence between the two.

"So, am I Vaara's prisoner now?"

"Yeah, not really her prisoner, more like her dinner."

"Dinner!?"

"Mmhmm, but seeing as you have suffered enough, I'll let you live."

Vaara looked at Louis and growled.

"Oh come on Vaara! Did you not just hear what he just said a few seconds ago? Have some sympathy mate."

Vaara rolled her eyes and turned her head away.

"So were you going back to Berk to steal more food?"

"Is that all you see me as? A thief?" said Louis, placing his hand on his chest.

Harry raised his left eyebrow.

"Well, I wasn't. Vaara and I were just flying back home and decided to stop and grab some food on the way."

"If you can collect your own fish, why'd you have to steal from the shops at Berk?"

"Sometimes we get lazy, alright?"

A thunder roared in the distance and Filbert jumped off of the rider's shoulders and ran towards the gentle giant. Both of them looked up at the sky and saw dark gray clouds rolling in. Louis looked at the two companions and scratched his head.

"Listen Harry, I know we may have gotten off on the wrong foot..." the thunder cut him off. "But, how about you come with us so you and Fil don't get drenched out here?"

Vaara snapped her head towards Louis in shock.

"I mean, you two have been living out here for quite while now and well, I also want to repay you for not turning me into the council. I know that if it was someone else, they would of ratted me out"

That was the last thing Harry expected to come out of the rider's mouth, but he looked at Louis's face and saw how serious he was being.

"Sure, if that's okay with Vaara?"

Vaara turned her head towards him, squinted, and growled.

"Come on now, don't be like that. If he turned us in the other day, we would've been separated and you would have been caged up."

Vaara rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Harry put Filbert on his shoulders and walked towards them. Louis shot his hand out for him to grab and as he stepped on Vaara's side and growled.

"Vaaaarrraaa. Be nice."

Louis lifted Harry up and took off his bag filled with fish and placed it into one of the satchels that was attached to the saddle.

"Give me your backpack so you won't lose during the flight."

Harry gave him the bag and sat behind the rider.

"Alright, now strap yourself in." Harry grabbed a leather belt that was hanging on his left and clipped it across his lap. Vaara heard the click and, without warning, started sprinting forward. Filbert immediately ran down off his shoulders and into his arms. He took hold of the baby with one arm and grabbed onto Louis's waist with the other. "Vaara! How about a warning next time?"

"We are going towards the lake!"

"I know! I'm not blind!"

The black dragon started to gain more speed and they started to spread out their wings. Harry closed his eyes and felt Vaara push off. He only heard the sound of branches breaking and leaves rustling as they raised from the ground; then all he heard was the wind. He slowly opened his eyes and the view took his breath away. He saw what seemed to be a never ending forest with huge, gray mountains in the distance. The cold wind smacking his face and causing his brown locks to flow back. Filbert wiggled itself out of the his grasp and climbed onto Louis shoulders, spreading its wings out. This was absolutely amazing. After flying for a few minutes, the rider steered Vaara towards a small mountain and landed right outside one of its many caves.

Harry jumped off the black dragon and placed Filbert onto the ground.

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, was that your first flight?" Louis chuckled.

"Yes! Ahh, I can't stop smiling!"

"If I knew that was your first flight, I would of told Vaara to do a loop-de-loop in the air!"

Harry ignored the riders comment and just paced around while the rider grabbed the bags.

"Here," throwing the bag into Harry's direction almost hitting him in the face "lets go inside, it's about to start pouring."

Louis and Vaara lead the two young-lings into the dark cave.

"Don't you have any candle or something?"

"What? Afraid of the dark?" The rider laughed.

"No, I just can't see where I'm going"

The only thing Harry could see were Filbert's and Vaara's eyes.

Louis stopped walking, causing Harry to crash into his back. The rider turned around. "Wait here."

He and the black dragon walked away, leaving them in the dark. Suddenly, a stream of fire came out of Vaara's mouth as she lit the torches that were placed around the cave.

"Welcome to Casa de Tommo!" Louis shouted as he walked towards them

"Woah."

"I know right? Let me give you a quick tour of the place" Louis said placing his arm around Harry.

"Here we have my bed, fit for a king and right next to it is Vaara's bed, fit for a dragon," pointing to which one was which like if Harry couldn't tell the difference.

"I thought dragons spit fire onto the ground and laid on top of it?"

"This one's different. To your right, you can see our food supply that was graciously given to us by Berk." said Louis with a smirk. "Right next to that is my collection of weapons that I use to kill animals or people," Harry looked at Louis in shock, "But mostly animals."

Louis took his arm off and walked off. "And all the furniture you see was built by yours truly." The black dragon growled at her companion. "Along with the help of Vaara of course."

"Wow, this is amazing."

"Well," said the rider clapping his hands together "let me make a bed for you and Filbert to share. Help yourself to some food."

Try not to seem desperate, Harry walked towards the basin that was filled with fruit and grabbed as much food as he could carry and stuffed his face. He turned around and saw Filbert trying to play with Vaara, but the black dragon was having none of it. She kept on pushing Filbert away with their tail, but the baby thought that they were playing with him. Harry chuckled to himself and walked towards Louis's weapon collection. He had a sword, an ax, a double headed ax, a shield and his armor.

"It's not a comfy bed, but it's better than sleeping on dirt."

He turned around and saw that the rider had placed a thick brown rug on the ground with a couple of blankets next to his bed. The noble dropped his bag on the floor and threw himself onto the bed.

"Ahh, it sure is."

Louis and his companion went to lay down on their beds and Filbert to Harry's.

"So, it's just you and Vaara that live here?" said the gentle giant as he covered himself with the blanket.

"Yup, just us."

"Have you always lived here?"

"No, we used to live in a village like yours."

"Did you have a family?"

"Yup. I have my mum and step dad, my sisters, Georgia, Lottie, Fizzy, Daisy, Phoebe, and my little twin siblings Doris and Ernest"

"Whoa, that's a huge family."

"Yeah..." Louis started to mess with his blankets.

"Umm, well, why'd you leave?"

The rider sighed and said, "I was a bit of a trouble maker." The black dragon huffed at Louis. "OKAY, I was a trouble maker. I would never follow the rules, stole food from shops, and other immature shit. Then one day, I really pushed it when Vaara and I were messing around at work and broke one of the fish huts, which caused the whole town to go without fish for two weeks. After that, I was fired from my job and no one wanted to hire me, so one night, I made the decision to leave with Vaara and live off the land."

"I'm sorry."

Louis shook his head and a smile grew on his face. "It's fine; at least I have Vaara with me." She squawked at her companion. "No rules, just us having fun and living life."

"Words to live by"

The rider yawned and stretched his arms out. "Well, I'm tired. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Agreed."

Vaara opened up her wings and flapped them once , causing all the torches to turn off from the one gush of wind.

***

The sun slowly shined its light into the cave; everything was quiet and peaceful, until...

"LOUIS!!!!!!"

They all woke up terrified and annoyed, especially the black dragon.

"Niall, you know Vaara isn't a morning person!" the rider shouted towards the opening of the cave.

The noble rubbed his eyes and saw a man with blonde hair walk towards them.

The blonde man laughed at Louis comment, "Wake up mate! You promised that we were going to look for more land"  
"Five more minutes..." said the rider as he rolled onto his stomach and covered his head with his blanket.  
Harry and Filbert watched as Niall yanked the rider's covers, causing Vaara to growl at him. "You promised." Unphased by the black dragon.  
"Okay, okay. I'm up." said Louis, as he slowly sat up.  
Niall suddenly felt something brush up against his leg; he looked down and saw Filbert smelling his shoes. "Who's this little guy?"  
Louis stretched out his arms and yawned, "That's Filbert"  
"What? You're stealing dragons now?"  
"Not me, him," said the rider as he pointed to Harry who was brusing his hair with his fingers.  
"Woah, you stole a dragon? That's sick." said Niall as he walked towards Harry offering his hand to lift him up from his bed  
"I guess... I'm Harry by the way."  
"I'm Niall." shaking his hand. Niall had blue eyes, was shorter than Harry but a bit taller than Louis, and has a never ending smile. "So are you joining us today?"  
"Umm..."  
"Of course he is." Louis answering for him.  
"Really, you guys won't mind?"  
"Why would we mind? The more the merrier!" said the Irish man as he helped himself to some of Louis’s fruit.  
"Oh of course, Niall, help yourself to some food! How rude of me for not offering." said the rider with a sarcastic tone.  
"We have a big day ahead of us, eat up!" throwing some fruit at the sleepy boys.  
***  
After washing up and eating breakfast, Louis and Niall started packing their satchels with some supplies for the day. Louis grabbed his sword and axe and placed it into the buckles of his belt; he grabbed his shield and double headed axe and handed the items to Harry.  
"Here."  
"Wait, umm, I thought we were just going to explore?"  
"We are but you never know when you have to defend yourself from other animals or people." said the rider as he, Niall, and Vaara walked towards the opening of the cave.  
"But I don't know how to use this” he looked down at the weapon.  
Louis quickly turned around and laughed, "What?! You can't be serious?"  
"They didn't offer classes when you were in school?" said Niall.  
"No, my school wouldn't allow it."  
"Well, I hope you at least have fast reflexes for when the time comes." said the rider as he climbed and strapped himself onto Vaara.  
Harry lifted himself and Filbert onto the black dragon did the same as Louis. He saw that Niall was standing at the edge of the cliff outside of the cave and watched as he placed two fingers into his mouth and whistled. A roar was heard in the distance followed by the sound of trees and branches breaking down below. The blonde man looked down towards the cliff and jumped. Harry's heart dropped to his stomach and lost his breath; he turned to Louis who was petting Vaara as if nothing happened. Suddenly, he saw Niall sitting on a yellow dragon, laughing his ass off.  
"Ahaha! Did I scare you?!"  
"You nearly gave him a heart attack" Louis chuckled.  
"Please don't ever do that again." Harry said as he placed a hand on his chest, heavily breathing.  
"Shall we go?" Louis shouts in glee. Vaara and the yellow dragon roared in response causing Filbert to roar as well.  
"I'll take that as a yes."  
Vaara took a few steps back and jumped straight off the cliff. As she fell, she quickly spread their wings, causing the black dragon to jerk upward.  
"Oi! This way!" shouted Niall and the black dragon followed.  
Niall's dragon had yellow, almost gold like scales with emerald eyes and had a personality almost like his riders.  
They were in the sky for a while and no one spoke, so Harry broke the silence.  
"So, how do you guys no each other?"  
"Oh man, me and Nialler go way back, huh mate?"  
"Yup, he almost killed me."  
The gentle giant's eyes widen in shock. "WHAT?"  
The blonde man and the rider laughed.  
"Niall's a dragon rider as well and one day, I caught him stealing food from my cave."  
"I remember like it was yesterday. Drite and I were starving and hadn't eaten for days. We found his cave and saw that no one was there; we walked in and helped ourself to his food. As we were eating, we heard him and Vaara coming and tried to bust out of there."  
"He wasn't fast enough and I attacked him! I dropped kicked him to the ground and had my sword against his throat, but this fucker giggled. WHO THE HELL GIGGLES WHEN THEY”RE ABOUT TO DIE? So, I knocked him unconscious instead."  
"Woke up the next day with my hands and legs tied while Drite was chained up."  
"YOU KEEP THEM AS PRISONERS!?"  
"Well, he did try to steal our food, but he kept on talking so much that I got annoyed and decided to let them go. After they left we just kept on randomly finding each other and just started hanging out."  
"Haha, but Vaara still hates me and won't let me ride her or even get near Louis."  
Harry chuckled, "Don't worry, she don't like me either." The noble noticed that Niall didn't have a saddle on Drite which concerned him.  
"Did you lose your saddle or something."  
"He doesn't use one” Louis mumbles.  
"Isn't that dangerous? I mean, you're flying thousands of meters above the ground!"  
The blonde man chuckled as he slowly stood up on the yellow dragon.  
"Yeah, but I know Drite will catch me." said Niall as he jumped off. The yellow dragon instantly flys down after him, grabbing him companion with their talons. "See!"  
Louis shook his head and turned around to face the noble. "It's a constant game of trust fall with them too." Drite threw Niall up into the air, swooping under him quickly. Niall opens his legs and sit back into his previous position.  
They continue to get to know each other for the rest of the flight, when suddenly saw a small village in the distance. "Hey, how about we go down and grab something to drink at a pub?"  
"Really? It's not even midday yet?"  
"Come on!” Niall whines.  
Louis sighs, "Fine, but for one drink, then we're leaving"  
They decided to land in the forest near the village and leave the dragons there, but Harry didn't feel comfortable leaving Filbert alone; Niall noticed and grabbed him by Harry’s shoulder.  
"Don't worry, Drite will take care of him," said the blonde men with a reassuring smile.  
Harry looked the dragons and saw the baby and Drite playing with each other as Vaara laid down by them.  
"Okay."  
The three of them their companions and walked towards the small town. They passed by fish markets and shops until they came across a pub and walked in. There was one table open by the bar and they sat down and made themselves comfortable as a waitress came over.  
"Hello, boys! What can I get for you?"  
"Can we have three meads and some bread please?"  
"Sure thing. Be right back"  
The guys talked for a few minutes when the doors of the pub slammed open. Everyone in the tavern turned around as three very muscular men walked in and sat by the bar.  
"Hey, you! Give my buddies and I three meads and they better be good!" shouted one of the men as he slammed his fist onto the counter. His hair was long and ashy, with a face that screamed dickhead.  
Niall looked back Louis and Harry with a disgusted look on his face. "Wow, rude."  
"Who do those fuckers think they are?"  
"So Liam, heard that your uncle is going to go take you to go kill you first dragon, are you excited?" said the man with the ashy hair to the one that sat in the middle.  
"Aww mate, I can't wait! Years of training finally going to pay off. I'm going to be one of the greatest dragon slayer that Hofslond has ever had."  
"Of course you are," said the other man that was to Liam's right "You're the best in our class!"  
Niall and Harry listened to their conversation as Louis tried his best not to get out of his seat and punch Liam and his mates in the face.  
"Here you go boys, three meads and a basket of bread," said the lady with a smile.  
"Thank yo-" said Niall but was interrupted by Liam. "Hey! Where are our drinks? Come on, quickly now!"  
"Hey, how about you fucken wait?" said Louis under his breath.  
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" said the man to Liam's left.  
Louis got up from his chair and firmly stood facing the men. "I said, to fucken wait."  
The men on Liam side were about to get up from their seat, but instead the muscular man with a slight beard sat them back down and got up instead. He walked towards the dragon lover's table and up to Louis.  
"Um, I'm sorry, but do you know who I am?"  
The shaggy haired rider did not reply and confidently stood there looking up at him.  
"My uncle is the chief of this village which makes me more important that you, so how about you shut up, sit down, and mind your own business."  
Louis looked back at Harry and Niall and chuckled, "Mate, I don't care how powerful you are, have some manners and respect the lady."  
The pub went silent as everyone watched the two men stared at each other.  
"Or what?"  
Louis looked down and cocked his head a little as Niall stood up, grabbing Harry from his coat and lifting him up.  
"Or my friends and I will have to knock some manners into you"  
"What?" Harry whispered to the blonde man.  
The other muscular men got up and stood next to their companion ready to fight, but the bearded man placed his arms out, blocking them. "Leave them. They're not worth it."  
Liam sat right back down and turned back to the waitress. Everyone sat back down except the rider, who glared at the bearded man.  
"Louis, sit down man." said Harry as he tugged his now new friend's shirt. He sat down and started to drink and eat bread with the others.  
Liam and his friends were obnoxiously loud and causing a mess on the counter, which made the shaggy haired man more pissed off. They finished their meads, left the messy counter, and stared walking towards the door when one of Liam's friend spoke.  
"By the way lady, the drinks were shitty."  
Harry and Niall saw Louis get up from his seat so fast that they could not to stop him. He grabbed the guy with ashy hair by the shoulder, turned him around and socked him right across the face. Liam and his friend turned around, saw their friend on the ground and attacked the rider. Liam grabbed Louis from his shirt and was about to punch him when Niall came out of nowhere and threw a glass bottle in their direction, causing him to miss. Liam turned around and looked at his friend, “Andy, Mark, one of you go get the blonde one and the other the tall one!” Andy ran towards Niall, grabbed him by his arm and punched him on his side. Harry stood there and watched as his friends fighting the other men when he saw Mark, the one that Louis socked earlier, run towards him. The noble moved out of the way, causing the bloody nose man to fall over their table. Harry took this opportunity to run outside the pub. As Niall was curled up on the ground, the Andy went after Harry. The shaggy hair rider got distracted by seeing Niall on the ground giving Liam the chance to upper-cut Louis, causing him to fall back on a stack of chairs. Liam wiped the blood from under his nose and walked up to Mark. Niall slowly got himself up and ran towards Louis.  
"Louis, are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Harry?" He says at he rubs his jaw  
The riders looked around the pub and saw that he was no where to be seen. Back outside, Harry was running towards the forest, but felt someone grab him and sock him in the stomach. Harry fell to the ground and started grunting; he turned around and saw Andy hovering over his body. The guy was about to withdraw his sword when suddenly Louis came out of nowhere and threw his much smaller body onto his, throwing them both to the ground. Niall ran to Harrys aid. He heard Liam and Mark calling for Andy and running towards them, anger written all over their face. Niall got up from Harry’s side, faced the forest, and whistled. Just before Liam and his friend withdrew their swords, the ground started to shake from under their feet. They stopped in their tracks and looked at the blonde rider, who was smirking at them when suddenly, a ball of acid flew towards Liam’s direction. He and his friend jumped away from the incoming acid and fell to the ground. Louis finished beating up the Andy and quickly made his way over to his friends.  
"Harry, are you alright?" said the shaggy haired rider as he and Niall lifted the tall one up. A roar came out of the forest which made them whip their heads back.  
Drite and Vaara sprinted out of the forest and ran towards Liam and his crew  
"They're... dragon riders?" said Liam as he got up.  
"DRAGON ATTACK!" shouted Mark repeatedly. Suddenly screams were heard in the distance and the men from the town started to bring out their weapons. Liam grabbed Andy as they and Mark ran towards the nearest weaponry shack. An army of soldiers ran towards the dragon lovers with their shields held up in front of them with their left hand and the sword in the other. Vaara noticed and stood in front of Louis, protecting him and the others. They roared at the armored men, scaring them and throwing them a bit off guard.  
"Harry, get on Drite. Drite take him back to where you guys were." said the blonde rider to his dragon. The yellow dragon nodded and was about to take off when suddenly a boulder flew in their direction, almost taking the dragons head off. The three turned around and saw Louis and Vaara defending themselves from about 50 soldiers.  
"Change of plans. Harry pick up a sword and fight.”  
“I don’t know how to fight!”  
“INSTINCTS!” shouted Niall drawing his axe and running to the battle with Drite by his side. Harry stood there and watched as Vaara attacked with fire, Drite spit out acid, and Louis and Niall fighting Liam and his friends, when suddenly he heard a familiar squawk. He turned towards the familiar sound and saw Filbert getting captured by a man. Harry yelled for his friends help, but they could not hear his cry. Grabbed the nearest weapon and ran towards the man.  
"Leave him alone!" shouted Harry as he pushed the man causing the baby to fall out of his arms. The gentle giant picked his dragon up and made sure that the baby was okay, but while he was distracted, the man grabbed Harry’s sword and slashed his leg. He screamed in pain, causing Louis and Niall turn around.  
"Harry!" They both shouted as they saw him fall to the ground.  
"Niall, go with him and get them somewhere safe!"  
"Louis look!" Said the blonde rider as he pointed in the distance. An army of about 200 men were coming their way; he knew that even though their dragons were powerful, they wouldn't stand a chance.  
"We can't take them all! We have to leave!"  
"You guys keep on fighting while Vaara and I go grab them"  
Harry laid on the ground in excruciating pain and was bleeding so much from behind his calve. Filbert was tugging at Harry's black coat trying to move his companion out the way but failing. The man with the sword got up and was about to strike again, but was stopped by another blade. Harry looked up and saw Louis come to his rescue. The man with the sword tried to attack the rider, but no matter where he struck, the shaggy haired man blocked. More of the men started coming towards Louis, but Vaara whipped her tail, causing them to trip and fall. The man with the sword turned around for a split second and the rider took this opportunity to slash the man's arm. He dropped his sword and looked at his opponent; the rider kicked him in the stomach and he fell back over a pile of wood. Louis went back to Harry and helped him up.  
"Can you walk?"  
"I can try." said the noble as he winced in pain.  
The rider grabbed Filbert and placed the dragon onto Vaara then helped Harry up.  
"Niall, let's go!" Louis, shouted as he jumped on his black dragon.  
The blonde rider finished off the guy that he was fighting and then climbed onto Drite. Liam sneaked up behind them and was about to cut the dragon's wing, but Niall saw him. The blonde rider threw his axe and knocked out the bearded man's sword out of his hand. The yellow dragon flapped his wings and took off into the air followed by Vaara.  
Mark ran up to him and shouted at the riders, "We'll have you and your dragon's head soon!" They watched as the rider flew out of their view.  
The soldiers all went to go check on Liam when they heard a shout coming from the distance. The bearded man's uncle came running down the hill on his horse and made his way towards Liam and his friend.  
"Liam!" shouted his uncle as he smoothed back his greasy black hair.  
"Yes, Uncle Demetri?" Liam could tell by the one of his voice that he was not happy.  
"How long have I trained you?"  
"My whole life, sir."  
"You're the best in all your training classes, correct?"  
"Yes."  
"Then why didn't you kill that bloody dragon!?" he shouted even louder, making sure everyone could hear him.  
Liam stood there embarrassed and then spoke, "I was about to, but the rider knocked the sword out of my hand."  
Demetri rubbed his forehead and sighed, "We'll talk later. Now, let's get two men on horse and send them into the forest. Find out where the dragons were hiding and see if they left anything behind. Everyone else, start cleaning up."  
Everyone left except Liam, who stood there angry. He saw the axe that the rider threw at him and picked it up. He examined it for a bit, but was interrupted by Demetri  
"Liam!" his uncle shouted.  
"Coming!"  
***  
The riders decided to land somewhere deep in the forest to check on Harry's injured leg.  
"Let me see." said Niall as he lifted up Harry’s pants. The gash oozed blood slowly but heavily from the wound, creating unbearable stabbing pains.  
"How bad is it?" Louis asked, biting his nails nervously.  
"Not good. If he doesn't get it properly treated, it can get worse."  
Louis paced back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. Filbert climbed on his companion's shoulders, trying to comfort him.  
Niall’s face lit up and climbed onto Drite.  
"What are you doing?" said the shaggy haired rider.  
"Come on, follow me," he shouted as he and Drite took off.  
"Niall! Wait, where are we going?" Louis shook his head and told Vaara to follow after him. The blonde rider started to stir his dragon towards the ocean and into the fog that was in the distance. “We can go find another village.”  
"That will take too long, just follow me."  
They entered the thick fog. It wrapped around them like a blanket; all Harry could see in front of him were Drite’s tail and his emerald eyes every time they would turn back to see if Louis was still following.  
"Can you tell me where we're going now?"  
"Oh come on Louis, I thought that you would've figured it out by now"  
"Well, the only person that I know that lives out here is... Oh. OH"  
"Oh what?" asked Harry.  
"Why didn't I think of that!"  
"OH WHAT?" Harry repeated.  
"Don't worry, you'll see when we get there."  
They flew for a few minutes until they started to see piles of rocks peeking out of the fog and just then, a small island with a huge mountain came into the clearing. The dragons landed onto the sand and the riders got off.  
Niall walked over to Harry and helped him down as Louis grabbed Filbert and placed him on the ground. Vaara and Drite walked away from the group and into one of the many caves that this mountain had, but before entering, the yellow dragon turned around and squawked at the baby, telling him to follow. The two riders placed one of Harry's arm onto their shoulders and lead him into the cave. As they walked in, Harry saw how their shadows started to dissolve into the darkness; all he could hear was the sound of their footsteps and dripping water. Suddenly a small white light came up in the distance. It got bigger as they got closer until reached the end of the cave. His eyes adjusted to the bright light. When they did, the view took his breath away.  
"Dragons." Harry said softly. There were everywhere, thousands of them.  
"Amazing ain’t it?” said Niall. They walked Harry over to a boulder and sat him down when suddenly a roar was heard in the distance. They turned around and saw a crimson colored dragon fly towards them. The dragon gracefully landed where the riders were standing. A man with dark skin and jet black hair, that was shaved on the sides climbed off his red dragon and walked over to them.

"Zayn, my main man!" said Louis with a smile as he went in for a tight hug, lightly slapping his friend's back. Zayn smiled and walked over to Niall.  
"Good to see you and Niall," he said as he greeted the blonde rider with a brotherly hug. "What brings you guys her? Is Vaara or Drite hurt?"  
"Actually," said Niall as he walked over to the where the curly boy sat ",our new friend, Harry, got injured and was hoping you can check it out"  
Harry was starting to feel light headed and his whole body felt weak, which Zayn noticed right away.  
"Let me see.” He kneeled down and helped Harry take off his boot off and roll his pants up, revealing the now swollen calve. "What in Odin's name were you guys doing?!"  
"Louis basically caused a whole battle between us and some village called Hosflond"  
"Hey, that guy and his idiot friends were being fucken rude, thinking that they ran the whole place!" as the shaggy hair rider crossed his arms.  
"You guys went to Hosflond? Did Demetri see where you guys were headed?" said Zayn as he quickly got up from the ground, dropping Harry’s leg, making him yelp in pain. He urgently grabbed Niall's shoulders, interrupting the bickering riders.  
Niall’s eyes widened, "Whose Demetri? Why would he want to know where we were going?"  
Zayn lets go of the shaken up blonde rider and walked over to his red dragon to grab some herbs, pieces of cloth, and a flask from a satchel attached to his saddle.  
"Demetri is chief of Hosflond and an evil man who has no heart; all he cares about is himself."  
"Chief? Wait, how do you know this guy?" said the injured young man.  
"I just umm do," he going back on his knees and pours the liquid from the flask onto the gash causing Harry to wince in pain.  
"Well, we didn't see him, but there was this guy in the bar that said his uncle was the chief." said Niall casually.  
Zayn stopped mid-session and slightly turned his head, "Liam?"  
"Yeah, I think that was him, why? Do you know him?"  
"Umm, yeah."  
"What? How? When?" said Louis, as he stood there in utter shock.  
"It's a long story." He said as he cleaned the gash, making Harry groan in pain.  
"You can't just tell us and not explain yourself. How do you know that jerk?"  
"He's not a jerk, well; he wasn't when I last saw him."  
Zayn finished wrapping Harry's leg and grabbed the remaining pieces of cloth and the flask from the ground. Harry tried to get up from the boulder, but fell right back.  
"Look, I'll tell you guys more about him later, but right now your friend needs to rest and you guys are going to have to stay here for a while"  
"What, why?"  
"Demetri probably has some of his men on a boat or on horse searching for you guys right now."  
"We're in the middle of the ocean, he can't find us!" brushing off what Zayn said.  
"Don't underestimate him, he is clever and knows what he's doing."  
"Fine, I'm sorry," said Louis, raising his hands up "but I am not sleeping next to Drite and Niall"  
"What why?" said Niall, offended by Louis words.  
"You two pass gas like there's no tomorrow, that's why!"  
"Hey, our farts are nothing compared to your's and Vaara's!"  
The two continued to shout insults at each other as Zayn sat next to the injured man.  
"Sometimes, I question why I'm even friends with them" whispered Zayn to Harry. The noble chuckled and nodded his head.  
"Asiri, please bring me some blankets for our guests." The red dragon bowed their heads down and gracefully flew off to one of the caves.  
***  
The riders and Harry were sitting and eating dinner around a small campfire that Asiri started. Harry noticed that it had been hours since he has last saw Filbert, Drite and Vaara and was starting to get worried.  
"You guys, umm where are our dragons?"  
Niall whipped off the crumbs off his face with his sleeve, "Mate, don't worry Filbert's fine. There is no safer place for a baby dragon than here."  
"Wait, Harry you have a baby dragon?" said Zayn with an almost animated like expression  
"Ha! More like stole it. He ran away from home with it and I graciously took them under my wing." said the shaggy hair rider as he placed a hand on his chest.  
"Well, you didn't do a good job," said Zayn pointing to the noble's leg.  
"Not my fault the boy doesn't know how to defend himself!"  
"Hey, that's rude" Harry furrowed his eyebrows as everyone else laughed.  
"Since you guys are going to be here for a while, how's about I teach you how to fight after you recover?" Zayn offered, taking a bite out of his slice bread.  
"Yeah, sure, I mean if it's not too much trouble?"  
"No trouble at all."  
The guys continued to eat the rest of their food as Harry retold his whole story of why he left and how he meet the riders to Zayn. He would ask Zayn questions about the dragons that lived here while Niall laughed at all of Louis's jokes even though he had heard them before. After dinner, the boys were stuffed and they sat around the campfire, throwing pieces of grass and dried up leaves into the flames. All was peaceful until the blonde rider spoke.  
"So Zayn, about you and Liam, you have to tell us everything."  
Even though Harry could barely move because of the food baby that he was carrying and his injured leg, he still managed to smack Niall's arm.  
"No, it's fine. I don't mind sharing." Zayn smiled at the group and made himself comfortable. "Well, believe or not, Liam was my best friend when we were young."  
"Shut up."  
Zayn chuckled, "No, it's true. My family has served the Payne family for generations. Geoff, Karen, Ruth, Nicola, and Liam were loved by everyone. No one ever complained or revolted against them because they knew how to run the village. They always put their people first and wanted to make sure that everyone living there lived peacefully. My family loved working for them because even though there was a class difference between us, they never belittled us and we respected that. Liam did not have any brothers and I was the only other boy around his age who grew up there so we played together and instantly became friends. Heck, he was basically my brother; we would play in his mom's garden, steal sweets from the kitchen and secretly hang out at my house where we'd play with Asiri, since he wasn’t allowed to. Dragons were not considered the right pets for the rich. Anyway, his parents even paid for me to go to school because they said that I had the potential of doing something greater than working as a servant."  
The smile on his face faded and he stopped talking for a second.  
"One day, while Liam and I were walking back from school, we saw a cloud of smoke above his house. My parents were not working that day so the only people in there were his family. Liam started running and I went chasing after him and as we got closer the smoke started to become thicker and fill up our view. We got near the house and all we could see was bright orange. The fire screamed at us and all you could hear was the wood breaking apart and crashing down. Liam tried to run into the house, but I held him back. We both watched his house go down in flames."  
Zayn was trying to hold back his tears.  
"No one survived the fire. He was only 10. 10 years old and he witnessed his whole family die right before his eyes!"  
Louis, Niall, and Harry saw as Zayn wiped a few tears from his eyes.  
"Since Liam was too young to become chief, Geoff's half-brother, Demetri, was put in charge. He is the complete opposite of Liam's father. He is very manipulative, merciless, and clever; he is feared by all and will destroy those who get in his way. He knew that my family had a dragon and blamed Asiri for the fire, saying how we planned to have the family killed. Liam didn't believe him at first, but slowly his uncle started to mess with his mind and told him lies about us eventually making him hate us and dragons over all. Demetri then convinced everyone in the village that dragons should no longer live along with humans, but instead bow down to them and if they don't, then they should die. Within days of him being in charge, he killed dragons and their owners. My family and others who didn't want to live under his rule decided to run away and save as many dragons as we could. Since then, I never saw Liam again."  
"Woah man, I'm so sorry," said the blonde rider.  
"And where's your family now?" Harry asked.  
"They live on their own with the other villagers in the forest far away from here, but I left to care for any injured and abandoned dragons here in my sanctuary."  
Louis patted his friends back and smiled at him. Zayn cleared his throat as he got up.  
"Well, it's getting late and you guys need to rest. We have a busy day ahead of us. Louis and Niall, you're both going to help me make sure that Demetri doesn't find us"  
"Yes sir!" Both of the riders lifted up their right hand and saluted.  
"And Harry, you are going to rest that leg."  
"Wait, I'm going to be here by myself!?"  
Louis rolled his eyes and lightly smacked him in the head. "You are surrounded my dragons idiot, you'll be fine."  
Suddenly, they heard Vaara, Drite, and Asiri land on the ground and walk towards them. Drite went up to Harry and lowered their heads down as Filbert came running down from the yellow dragons back and into his arms.  
"Hi bubs! Did you have fun?"  
Filbert squawked in response and snuggled up next to his companion's stomach.  
Vaara walked over to Louis and laid on the ground as the rider leaned up against their body. Niall called Drite over and did the same as Louis. Zayn grabbed the dirty plates and cups and climbed on to Asiri. He wished them goodnight and they flew off into the cave the red dragon went into previously. The boys snuggled up next to their dragons and fell asleep.  
***  
It was late at night and Liam was sitting in the dining hall with his head rested upon his hand as he messed around with the axe he found earlier. The weapon had a beautifully engraved dragon on the handle. The bearded man felt the design with his index finger and saw that the letters "Z" and "M" were carved in.  
"Ah, there you are, sir!" Liam looked up and saw his Uncle's right hand man, Charles, run into the hall. He was incredibly fit for his age and looked intimidating, but had a heart of gold. "Your uncle is looking for you and he doesn't seem to happy about it."  
Liam looked up and rolled his eyes. "He's just going to yell at me again."  
"Well, if you don’t go, he’ll just yell at you more. Come on, get up!"  
Liam groaned as he grabbed the axe, got up from his seat, and made his way upstairs. He walked past his room and threw the wooden weapon onto his bed before going any further. He knocked three times on the old door; the doorknob jiggled and turned. One of the servants greeted him and sat him down in front of his uncle's desk. Demetri sat across from him, twirling a letter opener on the wooden desk.  
"Leave the room, I need to talk to my nephew, alone."  
The servant bowed her head and quickly walked out and shut the door behind her. Liam sighed and spoke, "Look, about earlier today I really tried to,"  
"Silence."  
"But I,"  
"Silence!" shouted his uncle as he looked at him with dark, almost black eyes. Liam stopped talking and looked down at his lap.  
"What happened today was a disaster and an embarrassment. I put you in charge of the west area of the village, thinking that you were prepared for an attack and what do I get in return? Injured men, destroyed houses and no dragons! And to make matters worse, you couldn't even slay the beast! Now everyone thinks you're weak!"  
"I am not weak! I was about to kill it, but he threw his axe at my me and knocked the sword out of my hand! Plus, we hadn’t had an attack since the day my parents died!"  
"That is no excuse!" Demetri shouted as he slammed his fist onto the table. "You should of been faster than the axe!"  
The man rubbed his face, then slicked his hair back. He walked around his desk with his arms behind his back. "Look, I don't want to be the bad guy or anything but, I just want to protect you and make your father proud." He rested his hands on the chair his nephew at on.  
"Liam, look at me."  
There was no response from the bearded one  
"I said look at me" his uncle hissed. "Did you forget that those beasts killed your family?" he whispered into his ear  
"No."  
"Don't you want to avenge their death?" He says as he walk in front of him.  
"Yes."  
"Then, prove me and everyone else wrong. Show them that Liam Payne is not a coward and that you will avenge your family's death. Make your father proud!" he put his hands on the bearded man's shoulders.  
Liam clenched his fists and stood up; he turned around and looked at his uncle dead in the eye and said, "I will."  
"Good, then starting tomorrow, you will double your training and in two weeks we leave Hosflond in search of a dragon for you to slay before your 21st birthday, that way the people will see that you are ready to be in control of this village. Now, leave and tell Charles to come in." Liam nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
Charles came in seconds later.  
"Ahh, so I see that you and Liam have worked things out?"  
Demetri chuckled to himself as he sat back down in his chair. "Of course Charles!"  
"So I'm guessing that your plan of getting rid of the boy is no longer in the picture?"  
"Don't be silly, of course I still want the boy dead."  
"But sir, you don't need to kill the boy anymore, he seems like he will do whatever you say. You only planned on killing him if he disobeyed you."  
"No Charles, we are sticking to the original plan. I need to convince everyone else that I care for the boy, that way when the 'accident' happens, the villagers won't assume that I did it just for power. Soon, I will be in total control of Hosflond and with the dragon army that I am secretly raising, I will rule other villages."  
"But sir..."  
"No buts! I plan on killing the boy on our journey in search of the dragon. I'll tell the people that before he died, he told me that he wants me to continue running Hosflond and you will be my witness."  
"But..."  
Demetri quickly stood up from his chair and withdrew his sword from his belt as he pushed the man up against the wall, causing the picture frames to rattle and placed it up against Charles's neck.  
"Don't tell me you started caring for the boy? Hmmm?"  
The man shuts his eyes and started to tremble beneath the silver blade.  
"If I find out that you plan on telling Liam or anyone else our plan, I will slit your throat and let you die slowly as your warm blood oozes out of your body, understood?"  
Charles nodded and the blade retreated from his neck. He bowed down to Demetri and left the room.  
***  
"Louis, give me back my shirt!"  
"I don't have it, Drite has it!"  
"Hurry up you two!"  
Zayn stood with his hands on his hips as he saw the riders chase each other around  
Harry was laid up against a boulder covered with blankets, while Filbert was snuggled up against him.  
"Alright, alright, here!" the shaggy hair rider rolled up the shirt and threw to Niall hitting his face.  
"Look! Now there are wrinkles on it!" he said as he slipped it over his pale body.  
"Come on you guys!" Zayn walked over to Asiri and strapped himself into the saddle.  
Louis whistled for him and Niall’s beast; both dragons came out from one of the caverns and landed in front of their companions as the riders climbed on and prepared to take off.  
"We'll be back soon, but if you get hungry, there's a basin filled with food over there. If you hear or see something out of the ordinary, make your way into that cave and cover yourself with the piles of moss and leaves that's hidden behind one of the boulders."  
"Wait, what do you mean by hear something out of the ordinary? I've only been here less than a day!" he said as a worried looked washed over his face.  
"It's just for precaution Harold" said Louis.  
"Besides, you have Filbert and the other dragons in here, you'll be fine” Zayn said. The curly haired boy pressed his lips together and nodded at the guys."As I said, we'll be back soon so just rest. Maybe by the time you wake up will be here already."  
"Don't be surprised if there's a penis drawn on your forehead” Louis shrugged his shoulders and smirked.  
Harry rolled his eyes and waved goodbye as he watched the riders take off and leave the mountain, leaving him and the green dragon on their own.  
The injured boy looked over at the baby dragon and saw how his breathing made his body move up and down. Harry took this time to take in Zayn's sanctuary. The mountain was a beautiful place full of green rock pillars and light blue water. It has plants growing everywhere, and has cliffs and many waterfalls in it. Caverns surrounded the area and there was a clear- white mist that filled the air, plus the whole place felt humid, but nothing too bad that would make his hair frizz out. When he walked in for the first time he saw that there were so many dragons, but he never realized that there were this many. Monsterous Nightmare's and ChangeWing's chasing some Stormcutters around the pillars. He saw some Flightmares and Scauldron's swimming in the water while a group of Gronkles eating some rocks on the shore. There were so many other dragon species that he had not read about and was eager to explore the rest of the den. He lifted up the blankets and looked at his injured leg. He could feel the blood pumping through his calve and knew that exploring was going to have to wait. Harry decided that he was going to sleep in so he peeled himself off the boulder and laid on the ground, finding a comfortable spot to sleep in and he fell asleep. The noble felt something messing with his blankets and, with his eyes shut, tried to shooed off what he thought was Filbert trying to get in. Then suddenly a felt a cold blast of air hit his face.  
"Filbert stop," he said as he slowly opened his eyes and saw this white, almost silver like dragon with gold eyes just like Filbert's staring at him. "What the..."

"Zayn, my main man!" said Louis with a smile as he went in for a tight hug, lightly slapping his friend's back. Zayn smiled and walked over to Niall.  
"Good to see you and Niall," he said as he greeted the blonde rider with a brotherly hug. "What brings you guys her? Is Vaara or Drite hurt?"  
"Actually," said Niall as he walked over to the where the curly boy sat ",our new friend, Harry, got injured and was hoping you can check it out"  
Harry was starting to feel light headed and his whole body felt weak, which Zayn noticed right away.  
"Let me see.” He kneeled down and helped Harry take off his boot off and roll his pants up, revealing the now swollen calve. "What in Odin's name were you guys doing?!"  
"Louis basically caused a whole battle between us and some village called Hosflond"  
"Hey, that guy and his idiot friends were being fucken rude, thinking that they ran the whole place!" as the shaggy hair rider crossed his arms.  
"You guys went to Hosflond? Did Demetri see where you guys were headed?" said Zayn as he quickly got up from the ground, dropping Harry’s leg, making him yelp in pain. He urgently grabbed Niall's shoulders, interrupting the bickering riders.  
Niall’s eyes widened, "Whose Demetri? Why would he want to know where we were going?"  
Zayn lets go of the shaken up blonde rider and walked over to his red dragon to grab some herbs, pieces of cloth, and a flask from a satchel attached to his saddle.  
"Demetri is chief of Hosflond and an evil man who has no heart; all he cares about is himself."  
"Chief? Wait, how do you know this guy?" said the injured young man.  
"I just umm do," he going back on his knees and pours the liquid from the flask onto the gash causing Harry to wince in pain.  
"Well, we didn't see him, but there was this guy in the bar that said his uncle was the chief." said Niall casually.  
Zayn stopped mid-session and slightly turned his head, "Liam?"  
"Yeah, I think that was him, why? Do you know him?"  
"Umm, yeah."  
"What? How? When?" said Louis, as he stood there in utter shock.  
"It's a long story." He said as he cleaned the gash, making Harry groan in pain.  
"You can't just tell us and not explain yourself. How do you know that jerk?"  
"He's not a jerk, well; he wasn't when I last saw him."  
Zayn finished wrapping Harry's leg and grabbed the remaining pieces of cloth and the flask from the ground. Harry tried to get up from the boulder, but fell right back.  
"Look, I'll tell you guys more about him later, but right now your friend needs to rest and you guys are going to have to stay here for a while"  
"What, why?"  
"Demetri probably has some of his men on a boat or on horse searching for you guys right now."  
"We're in the middle of the ocean, he can't find us!" brushing off what Zayn said.  
"Don't underestimate him, he is clever and knows what he's doing."  
"Fine, I'm sorry," said Louis, raising his hands up "but I am not sleeping next to Drite and Niall"  
"What why?" said Niall, offended by Louis words.  
"You two pass gas like there's no tomorrow, that's why!"  
"Hey, our farts are nothing compared to your's and Vaara's!"  
The two continued to shout insults at each other as Zayn sat next to the injured man.  
"Sometimes, I question why I'm even friends with them" whispered Zayn to Harry. The noble chuckled and nodded his head.  
"Asiri, please bring me some blankets for our guests." The red dragon bowed their heads down and gracefully flew off to one of the caves.  
***  
The riders and Harry were sitting and eating dinner around a small campfire that Asiri started. Harry noticed that it had been hours since he has last saw Filbert, Drite and Vaara and was starting to get worried.  
"You guys, umm where are our dragons?"  
Niall whipped off the crumbs off his face with his sleeve, "Mate, don't worry Filbert's fine. There is no safer place for a baby dragon than here."  
"Wait, Harry you have a baby dragon?" said Zayn with an almost animated like expression  
"Ha! More like stole it. He ran away from home with it and I graciously took them under my wing." said the shaggy hair rider as he placed a hand on his chest.  
"Well, you didn't do a good job," said Zayn pointing to the noble's leg.  
"Not my fault the boy doesn't know how to defend himself!"  
"Hey, that's rude" Harry furrowed his eyebrows as everyone else laughed.  
"Since you guys are going to be here for a while, how's about I teach you how to fight after you recover?" Zayn offered, taking a bite out of his slice bread.  
"Yeah, sure, I mean if it's not too much trouble?"  
"No trouble at all."  
The guys continued to eat the rest of their food as Harry retold his whole story of why he left and how he meet the riders to Zayn. He would ask Zayn questions about the dragons that lived here while Niall laughed at all of Louis's jokes even though he had heard them before. After dinner, the boys were stuffed and they sat around the campfire, throwing pieces of grass and dried up leaves into the flames. All was peaceful until the blonde rider spoke.  
"So Zayn, about you and Liam, you have to tell us everything."  
Even though Harry could barely move because of the food baby that he was carrying and his injured leg, he still managed to smack Niall's arm.  
"No, it's fine. I don't mind sharing." Zayn smiled at the group and made himself comfortable. "Well, believe or not, Liam was my best friend when we were young."  
"Shut up."  
Zayn chuckled, "No, it's true. My family has served the Payne family for generations. Geoff, Karen, Ruth, Nicola, and Liam were loved by everyone. No one ever complained or revolted against them because they knew how to run the village. They always put their people first and wanted to make sure that everyone living there lived peacefully. My family loved working for them because even though there was a class difference between us, they never belittled us and we respected that. Liam did not have any brothers and I was the only other boy around his age who grew up there so we played together and instantly became friends. Heck, he was basically my brother; we would play in his mom's garden, steal sweets from the kitchen and secretly hang out at my house where we'd play with Asiri, since he wasn’t allowed to. Dragons were not considered the right pets for the rich. Anyway, his parents even paid for me to go to school because they said that I had the potential of doing something greater than working as a servant."  
The smile on his face faded and he stopped talking for a second.  
"One day, while Liam and I were walking back from school, we saw a cloud of smoke above his house. My parents were not working that day so the only people in there were his family. Liam started running and I went chasing after him and as we got closer the smoke started to become thicker and fill up our view. We got near the house and all we could see was bright orange. The fire screamed at us and all you could hear was the wood breaking apart and crashing down. Liam tried to run into the house, but I held him back. We both watched his house go down in flames."  
Zayn was trying to hold back his tears.  
"No one survived the fire. He was only 10. 10 years old and he witnessed his whole family die right before his eyes!"  
Louis, Niall, and Harry saw as Zayn wiped a few tears from his eyes.  
"Since Liam was too young to become chief, Geoff's half-brother, Demetri, was put in charge. He is the complete opposite of Liam's father. He is very manipulative, merciless, and clever; he is feared by all and will destroy those who get in his way. He knew that my family had a dragon and blamed Asiri for the fire, saying how we planned to have the family killed. Liam didn't believe him at first, but slowly his uncle started to mess with his mind and told him lies about us eventually making him hate us and dragons over all. Demetri then convinced everyone in the village that dragons should no longer live along with humans, but instead bow down to them and if they don't, then they should die. Within days of him being in charge, he killed dragons and their owners. My family and others who didn't want to live under his rule decided to run away and save as many dragons as we could. Since then, I never saw Liam again."  
"Woah man, I'm so sorry," said the blonde rider.  
"And where's your family now?" Harry asked.  
"They live on their own with the other villagers in the forest far away from here, but I left to care for any injured and abandoned dragons here in my sanctuary."  
Louis patted his friends back and smiled at him. Zayn cleared his throat as he got up.  
"Well, it's getting late and you guys need to rest. We have a busy day ahead of us. Louis and Niall, you're both going to help me make sure that Demetri doesn't find us"  
"Yes sir!" Both of the riders lifted up their right hand and saluted.  
"And Harry, you are going to rest that leg."  
"Wait, I'm going to be here by myself!?"  
Louis rolled his eyes and lightly smacked him in the head. "You are surrounded my dragons idiot, you'll be fine."  
Suddenly, they heard Vaara, Drite, and Asiri land on the ground and walk towards them. Drite went up to Harry and lowered their heads down as Filbert came running down from the yellow dragons back and into his arms.  
"Hi bubs! Did you have fun?"  
Filbert squawked in response and snuggled up next to his companion's stomach.  
Vaara walked over to Louis and laid on the ground as the rider leaned up against their body. Niall called Drite over and did the same as Louis. Zayn grabbed the dirty plates and cups and climbed on to Asiri. He wished them goodnight and they flew off into the cave the red dragon went into previously. The boys snuggled up next to their dragons and fell asleep.  
***  
It was late at night and Liam was sitting in the dining hall with his head rested upon his hand as he messed around with the axe he found earlier. The weapon had a beautifully engraved dragon on the handle. The bearded man felt the design with his index finger and saw that the letters "Z" and "M" were carved in.  
"Ah, there you are, sir!" Liam looked up and saw his Uncle's right hand man, Charles, run into the hall. He was incredibly fit for his age and looked intimidating, but had a heart of gold. "Your uncle is looking for you and he doesn't seem to happy about it."  
Liam looked up and rolled his eyes. "He's just going to yell at me again."  
"Well, if you don’t go, he’ll just yell at you more. Come on, get up!"  
Liam groaned as he grabbed the axe, got up from his seat, and made his way upstairs. He walked past his room and threw the wooden weapon onto his bed before going any further. He knocked three times on the old door; the doorknob jiggled and turned. One of the servants greeted him and sat him down in front of his uncle's desk. Demetri sat across from him, twirling a letter opener on the wooden desk.  
"Leave the room, I need to talk to my nephew, alone."  
The servant bowed her head and quickly walked out and shut the door behind her. Liam sighed and spoke, "Look, about earlier today I really tried to,"  
"Silence."  
"But I,"  
"Silence!" shouted his uncle as he looked at him with dark, almost black eyes. Liam stopped talking and looked down at his lap.  
"What happened today was a disaster and an embarrassment. I put you in charge of the west area of the village, thinking that you were prepared for an attack and what do I get in return? Injured men, destroyed houses and no dragons! And to make matters worse, you couldn't even slay the beast! Now everyone thinks you're weak!"  
"I am not weak! I was about to kill it, but he threw his axe at my me and knocked the sword out of my hand! Plus, we hadn’t had an attack since the day my parents died!"  
"That is no excuse!" Demetri shouted as he slammed his fist onto the table. "You should of been faster than the axe!"  
The man rubbed his face, then slicked his hair back. He walked around his desk with his arms behind his back. "Look, I don't want to be the bad guy or anything but, I just want to protect you and make your father proud." He rested his hands on the chair his nephew at on.  
"Liam, look at me."  
There was no response from the bearded one  
"I said look at me" his uncle hissed. "Did you forget that those beasts killed your family?" he whispered into his ear  
"No."  
"Don't you want to avenge their death?" He says as he walk in front of him.  
"Yes."  
"Then, prove me and everyone else wrong. Show them that Liam Payne is not a coward and that you will avenge your family's death. Make your father proud!" he put his hands on the bearded man's shoulders.  
Liam clenched his fists and stood up; he turned around and looked at his uncle dead in the eye and said, "I will."  
"Good, then starting tomorrow, you will double your training and in two weeks we leave Hosflond in search of a dragon for you to slay before your 21st birthday, that way the people will see that you are ready to be in control of this village. Now, leave and tell Charles to come in." Liam nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
Charles came in seconds later.  
"Ahh, so I see that you and Liam have worked things out?"  
Demetri chuckled to himself as he sat back down in his chair. "Of course Charles!"  
"So I'm guessing that your plan of getting rid of the boy is no longer in the picture?"  
"Don't be silly, of course I still want the boy dead."  
"But sir, you don't need to kill the boy anymore, he seems like he will do whatever you say. You only planned on killing him if he disobeyed you."  
"No Charles, we are sticking to the original plan. I need to convince everyone else that I care for the boy, that way when the 'accident' happens, the villagers won't assume that I did it just for power. Soon, I will be in total control of Hosflond and with the dragon army that I am secretly raising, I will rule other villages."  
"But sir..."  
"No buts! I plan on killing the boy on our journey in search of the dragon. I'll tell the people that before he died, he told me that he wants me to continue running Hosflond and you will be my witness."  
"But..."  
Demetri quickly stood up from his chair and withdrew his sword from his belt as he pushed the man up against the wall, causing the picture frames to rattle and placed it up against Charles's neck.  
"Don't tell me you started caring for the boy? Hmmm?"  
The man shuts his eyes and started to tremble beneath the silver blade.  
"If I find out that you plan on telling Liam or anyone else our plan, I will slit your throat and let you die slowly as your warm blood oozes out of your body, understood?"  
Charles nodded and the blade retreated from his neck. He bowed down to Demetri and left the room.  
***  
"Louis, give me back my shirt!"  
"I don't have it, Drite has it!"  
"Hurry up you two!"  
Zayn stood with his hands on his hips as he saw the riders chase each other around  
Harry was laid up against a boulder covered with blankets, while Filbert was snuggled up against him.  
"Alright, alright, here!" the shaggy hair rider rolled up the shirt and threw to Niall hitting his face.  
"Look! Now there are wrinkles on it!" he said as he slipped it over his pale body.  
"Come on you guys!" Zayn walked over to Asiri and strapped himself into the saddle.  
Louis whistled for him and Niall’s beast; both dragons came out from one of the caverns and landed in front of their companions as the riders climbed on and prepared to take off.  
"We'll be back soon, but if you get hungry, there's a basin filled with food over there. If you hear or see something out of the ordinary, make your way into that cave and cover yourself with the piles of moss and leaves that's hidden behind one of the boulders."  
"Wait, what do you mean by hear something out of the ordinary? I've only been here less than a day!" he said as a worried looked washed over his face.  
"It's just for precaution Harold" said Louis.  
"Besides, you have Filbert and the other dragons in here, you'll be fine” Zayn said. The curly haired boy pressed his lips together and nodded at the guys."As I said, we'll be back soon so just rest. Maybe by the time you wake up will be here already."  
"Don't be surprised if there's a penis drawn on your forehead” Louis shrugged his shoulders and smirked.  
Harry rolled his eyes and waved goodbye as he watched the riders take off and leave the mountain, leaving him and the green dragon on their own.  
The injured boy looked over at the baby dragon and saw how his breathing made his body move up and down. Harry took this time to take in Zayn's sanctuary. The mountain was a beautiful place full of green rock pillars and light blue water. It has plants growing everywhere, and has cliffs and many waterfalls in it. Caverns surrounded the area and there was a clear- white mist that filled the air, plus the whole place felt humid, but nothing too bad that would make his hair frizz out. When he walked in for the first time he saw that there were so many dragons, but he never realized that there were this many. Monsterous Nightmare's and ChangeWing's chasing some Stormcutters around the pillars. He saw some Flightmares and Scauldron's swimming in the water while a group of Gronkles eating some rocks on the shore. There were so many other dragon species that he had not read about and was eager to explore the rest of the den. He lifted up the blankets and looked at his injured leg. He could feel the blood pumping through his calve and knew that exploring was going to have to wait. Harry decided that he was going to sleep in so he peeled himself off the boulder and laid on the ground, finding a comfortable spot to sleep in and he fell asleep. The noble felt something messing with his blankets and, with his eyes shut, tried to shooed off what he thought was Filbert trying to get in. Then suddenly a felt a cold blast of air hit his face.  
"Filbert stop," he said as he slowly opened his eyes and saw this white, almost silver like dragon with gold eyes just like Filbert's staring at him. "What the..."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry lifted himself onto his elbows as the white dragon moved away from his face. He started to quietly panic, not knowing whether the beast was going to attack him and Filbert. The beast continued to look him with an intense stare, it was as if the dragon was looking into his soul. He felt vulnerable and in somewhat of a trance. He had never seen or read about this type of power before, which made him even more terrified. Harry slowly lifted his right arm up, balancing himself with the other, and moved it towards the dragon. The beast slowly moved it’s head down and gently pressed it’s forehead against the hand. Goosebumps overtook his body right after he touched the dragon's skin; it was cold and icy and his hand started to feel numb, but he could not take his hand away. The numbing turned into pain; he wanted to retreat his hand, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not. The gentle giant saw his finger tips start to turn a shade of purple, then blue.  
"Stop, it hurts!" Harry's voice shivered from the cold that ran through his body. The beast ignored him and continued to stare at him. He looked back at his now blackened fingertips.  
"Please, I beg of you!"  
Harry shot his eyes wide open. He was breathing heavy, short breathes. Beads of sweat fell from his forehead and his hands felt clammy. He looked around the area to see if the dragon was there. Nothing. He remembered his frost bitten hand and lifted it out from beneath the sheets. They were a slight shade of pink and glistened under the morning sun, no black what so ever. He lifted up his blanket and found Filbert curled up and sound asleep. He sighed in relief, knowing that him and the baby were safe.  
He did not know whether that was a lucid dream or a reality. Maybe it was some side effects of the tea Zayn made him drink this morning. His stomach growled loudly, awakening Filbert.  
"Sorry bubs" he chuckled scratching the baby's chin. "How about we eat something?"  
Harry uncovered himself and slowly lifted himself up and onto the boulder he was against. He then pushed himself up and stood on his lanky legs. Filbert stayed right by his side and waited until their companion started to walk towards the food basin. He limped his way over and grabbed himself a banana, an apple, two pieces of bread, and a slice of cheese. He grabbed some raw fish from the other basin for the green dragon and tossed in his direction. The baby grabbed the fish and scurried over to their bed to enjoy their meal. Harry grabbed a small cup and served himself some water from the jug that Zayn left for him. He hobbled his way back to his bed and ate. As he ate, he continued to admire the dragons that were surrounding him. He grabbed his bag and rummage through it.  
"Ah yes!" he exclaimed when he found his brown leather journal that Robin had given him for his birthday. It was full of some of his random sketches and writings that he had thought of when he was bored. He grabbed a small pencil from the bottom of his bag and started to draw some of the dragons. He was not the best artist, but his little doodles made him happy. Harry spent the rest of the afternoon drawing some terrible terrors that were trying to steal Filbert's fish, Filbert, a hotburple that was sleeping across from him, and any other dragon that caught his eye. After hours of doodling and trying to teach his dragon not to burn his clothes or blankets, he knocked out.  
***  
"WE HAVE ARRIVED!"  
Harry woke up to the sound of Louis's shout echoing through one of the many caves. He wondered how it was possible for a small man like him had room for a voice as loud as his. He uncovered himself and sat himself onto the boulder as he watched the riders fly in and land right before him.  
"How did it go?"  
"It went pretty well, we did a wide search of the waters and went though a big part of the forest" stated Niall as he and the other riders got off from their dragons. Filbert got excited when they saw his friends and left their companion's side to go greet the them.  
"We found two men on horses that were in the area where we left the dragons the day of the attack and killed them" added Louis.  
Zayn rolled his eyes, "We actually sneaked up on them, knocked them out, and placed them in the north side of the forest to throw them off."  
"What about you, Harold, what did you do today?" Niall said as he grabbed an apple from the basin.  
"I just caught up with some sleep and tried to train Filbert to not burn my clothes and other flammable things."  
"Been there, done that! Vaara was a pain in the neck to train! Took me almost a month to teach them that."  
"It only took Drite two weeks to learn!"  
"Why are you trying to one up me Niall?"  
"I'm not, just saying that it took them less time to learn."  
"Yes you are and nobody wants to hang with someone who brags."  
Zayn sat next to Harry as they watched watched the two riders teased each other.  
"Can you believe I had to deal with this the whole day?"  
"They always seem to bicker, isn't that bad?"  
"Nah, they just like to have playful banters with each other. Niall almost blew our cover when we were trying to sneak up on Demetri's men because Louis making funny voices for the men."  
Harry shook his head and imagined the blonde rider's face turning red, trying to hold in his laugh.  
"Although they sometimes get annoying, I wouldn't trade them for anything the world. They keep me entertained." said Zayn as he smiled.  
The bickering riders were now playfully wrestling on the ground, but it looked more like if they were trying to tickle each other. Vaara looked over to her rider and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Drite and Asiri were letting Filbert climb over them and let the baby chase with their tails.  
"I find it kind of funny how dragons have their own personalities” Harry turned to Zayn. "Always thought of them as just being animals".  
"So did I, but after being with so many for ten years, I learned that no two dragons are alike. Take Asiri for example. He’s aggressive looking, but very tame and gentle. Gets along with most other creatures that live here unless they are really annoying. I respect him and he respect me, we both know when to have fun and when to stay focused. Then you have Drite; extremely outgoing, strong bond with their rider. Gets along with everything and everyone. I'm surprised that he spits out acid and fire instead of sunshine and rainbows" he chuckled. "Vaara is big, black, and terrifying with a matching aggressive personality. Only allows Louis or me to ride he. Niall tried to ride her once and almost lost an arm! Even though she looks and acts that way, she’s very caring and will defend Louis or anyone one that associates with him even if she doesn’t like you."  
"I find that very hard to believe"  
"I haven't seen it being done, but I think when the times comes, she'll be there to defend us." Harry nodded. "And can't forget about Filbert," Zayn pointed at the baby dragon who was playing hide-and-seek with Asiri by hiding under Drite's wing. "I haven't even been with him for long and I already know that he has a strong bond with you. He’s always by your side and are playful just like Drite, however, I believe that as he get older, he'll become a bit more mature, but still young at heart."  
"And you can tell that just by looking at him? Wow."  
They continued to watch the rider wrestle for a few minutes. Niall almost got Louis to give out, but at the last minute was turned over and was now getting pinned down. Harry wanted to tell Zayn about the white dragon that he dreamt about earlier, but did not want to bother him with more questions about dragons. Plus, he doesn’t even know whether the dragon was real or if he even imagined it. He grabbed the hand that touched the beast and swear he could still feel the cold, scaly skin. He was about to tell him, but was interrupted by Zayn.  
"Well, I'm starving. Let's eat!" He shouts as he claps his hands together and walks into the cave.  
The riders stopped fighting right after they heard the word eat. Louis helped Niall up as they followed Zayn.  
"What are we having? Chicken or ham?" said the shaggy hair rider.  
"Please tell me you have some potatoes so you can make your famous roasted potatoes!" said the blonde rider as he walked over to the barrel filled with vegetables.  
"Oooo yeah! Those are fucken good!" exclaimed Louis.  
"We ate the last of the chicken yesterday night and have no ham, so I'm grilling fish tonight."  
"Uhh, I'm so tired of fish! Tomorrow, I'm going to go find some chickens and a plump pig!" Niall shouted.  
"Alright, you said it. Can one of you guys start warming up the pans and the other to start roasting the vegetables? I'm going to change Harry's bandage first."  
"Yes, sir!" both riders said simultaneously.  
Zayn re-bandaged the injured leg and helped Harry over to the small kitchen since he wanted to help. Louis started grilling the fish while Harry and Niall worked on the vegetables; Zayn started cutting the potatoes and roasting them the way his mom taught. After about thirty minutes, dinner was ready and they all grabbed a plate, served themselves, and made their way into Zayn's cave and sat around the bonfire.  
For the next few days, this was their basic routine; the riders would leave early in the morning to make sure that Demetri's men or ships were anywhere near the area while Harry slept in until about twelve. The guys would come back and spend the rest of the day helping Zayn with taking care of the dragons and helping Harry train Filbert. As the days went by, Harry’s leg got better and he was now able to walk without a limp in his step. However, he could not do most of the chores, so he spent most of his time taking care of the dragons that were by waterfalls and ponds. Harry would have never imagined that he would be brushing Thunderdrum and Seashocker's teeth or even be standing next to a Sliquifier! He did not want to take this for granted and enjoyed every single moment of it.  
***  
"AAHHHH!" Liam shouted as he sprinted forward towards his contender with his sword, ready to fore-swing. The blades clashed together as he blocked his opponent's attacks moving back and forth. He tried to thrust his weapon towards his opponent's abdomen, but was quickly blocked as the sword swirled around his and away from the targeted area. Liam was stunned, he thought surely that would be his final move.  
"No, no, No! What are you doing?" Charles came down from the balcony that had a view over the practice area. Liam put his sword back into his sheath and walked over to meet him by the end of the stairs. "Have you forgotten how to fight? You're lucky your uncle didn't walk in, he would of been furious!"  
He walked over to where the fight had taken place and withdrew his sword from his scabbard.  
"Watch me. Andy, get ready."  
The young man withdrew his sword and positioned himself into a stance. The dark skinned man looked at Andy and gave him a small nod, gesturing him to start. The light-brown haired man upheld his weapon and turned quickly to his left, but was blocked by Charle's sword. Liam watched as his uncle's second in command blocked all of Andy's attacks swiftly and calmly, unlike the young man who was now getting frustrated. Charles saw this change in mood in his opponent and quickly made his way past Andy's strikes and almost slashed his throat. Andy stood still and dropped his sword, causing the sound of the weapon crashing on the ground to fill the room.  
"That was an amazing strategy, like what I tried to do."  
Charles withdrew his sword and placed it back into his sheath. He picked up Andy's sword and gave it to him as he walked over to Liam.  
"I did what you just did, but I choose a different area to strike."  
"Was that where I failed?"  
"No. Tell me Liam, explain exactly what I just did."  
"That's easy, you blocked all of his attacks and at the right moment, you attacked him."  
"Wrong."  
"How is that wrong? That is exactly what you just did, but said in simple terms, Do you want me to get technical 'cause I'll get technical."  
"Liam, relax. Yes, I did do that, but that's not the answer I was looking for."  
The bearded man turned to Andy to see if he knew the answer, but the light-brown haired man shook his head and raised his shoulders.  
Charles sighed, "You did not settle into the rhythm of the swordplay. You were so focused on attacking Andy that you were not focusing on yourself and how you were moving."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You have to concentrate on your defense and let your muscles and find your way into the rhythm of swordplay. You're doing the classic knight stance, where you hammer and stab. You have to think of yourself and your sword like water; it is swift and subtle. Did you know what men are made up mostly water?"  
"Yes."  
"If you pierce them, you'll make them leak, causing them to die."  
"Oh, he's getting philosophical" said Andy, making Liam face wrinkle up and chuckle.  
"Andy, I could have easily killed you right then in there and I can easily kill you right now."  
The young man smile faded and shamefully looked down at his feet.  
"Another thing that you did not do was that you did not observe your contender. I could tell that Andy was getting frustrated and used that to my advantage. He let his anger get the best of him, causing him to be clumsy and made himself an open target. Always observe your opponent and how they act, use their weakness to your advantage. Make sure that when they die, they know that the reason they did was because it was their own fault."  
"How do you expect me to focus on him, my stance, and attacking all at the same time? "  
"You know how to do all these things separately, but you now must find a balance in all three. "  
"Will I be able to find this balance before I become chief?" Liam followed Charles up towards the stairs.  
"Yes, so I'm not worried. I know that you'll find that balance and be ready to attack any evil creature that comes your way and tries to hurt you or any of your loved ones."  
"You bet. When I go kill my first dragon next week, I'll be so quick, that the beast won't even have time to attack! After I become chief, I'll make it my goal to find that beast and their family. I'll make sure that the demon dies slowly and painfully and make the Maliks watch, killing them right after."  
Liam slapped Charles's back and ran back to Andy.  
The dark skinned man smiled, but when he turned his back, he sighed and shook his head.  
"Demetri is getting to him," he thought " I need to do something and fast, before it's too late."  
***  
Harry was in Zayn's kitchen preparing dinner for when the riders came back from their doing their chores. Filbert was with the other baby dragons, so it was just him alone. He had just finished up mashing the potatoes and getting ready to start cooking up some chicken that Louis and Zayn killed yesterday. Harry decided to tidy up a bit. He grabbed all of the used pots and pans, along with some soap and walked over to the small river that was by the cave. He was expecting to see some dragons hanging out by the river, but to his surprise, none of the beasts were there. Niall did say that sometimes the dragons like to go outside the mountain and hang out by the shore. He squatted down and made a ‘u’ shape into the water as he filled one of the containers and started scrubbing away. He started humming to himself one of the songs his mom used to sing while she washed the dishes. It's been almost a month since he left Berk and his family. If he was there right now, he would of been stuck in some boring meeting, while his sister and mother were at the schools, watching over the children. Robin would probably be at the village, making sure everything was running smoothly. He smiled at the memories and continued to hum the song. As he washed the dishes something caught his attention from the other side of the river bed. It was the white dragon. He had not seen the beast in a week; he even convinced himself that he made the whole thing up. The dragon was drinking some water from the river and lifted it’s head up, and turning their head towards Harry. He immediately stopped and placed the clean dish to the side. He watched as the beast slowly made their way over to him, never breaking eye contact. The noble stood up and continued to watch as the white dragon walked across the river and stood straight across from him. This beast was incredibly beautiful; the scales almost glistened against the sunlight like ice. The beast was massive; not as big as Vaara or Asiri but, still taller than Drite. Harry started to feel vulnerable as he did the last time he was with the dragon. He walked closer to the beast and reached his hand out to them. The dragon stared at his hand, then back into the noble's green eyes. The beast closed their eyes and pressed their forehead into his hand. His hand started to become cold and retreated it from their skin, sighing in relief.  
"Get away from her!"  
He felt a strong force push him over and into the water. He could feel the cold liquid, cover his whole body. He hit the bottom of the river and quickly floated up to the surface. Harry moved the wet strands of hair that were sticking to his face and blinked his eyes open. He caught his breath as he saw a sword pointed directly to his head. He looked up and saw a girl with brown-curly hair and beige colored skin stare at him with her chocolate- colored eyes.  
"Who are you and why are you here?" Harry sat there speechless and confused. "Answer me or I'll cut your head off!"  
"I-I'M HARRY!"  
"Why are you here? How did you find this place? Are you one of Demetri's men?"  
"NO! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"  
"Then answer my question! How did you find this place!?"  
"LOUIS AND NIALL BROUGHT ME HERE!"  
"Liar! They have never spoken about you before."  
"PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE, JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY COME BACK!" She lifted up her sword, getting ready to strike as Harry shut his eyes and tensed his body up, preparing for his death  
"Imara!"  
They both looked up and saw the riders flying in from one of the entrances and landing in front of them.  
"Zayn, I caught this intruder. He was trying to hurt Sorja!"  
"Are you kidding me, Harold wouldn't hurt a fly!" Louis stated as he and the riders got off from their dragons. Niall quickly ran to Harry and helped him out of the water.  
"Wait, you know him?" she says.  
"Yes, they know me! I was telling you the truth!" said Harry as Louis wrapped a blanket around him.  
"How was I suppose to believe you? For all I know, you could have just been saying that to throw me off guard!"  
"Why would I lie when there is a fucken sword being placed at my throat?!"  
"Both of you need to calm down!" Zayn shouted as he walked in between the two. "Imara, I thought you said you wouldn't be coming back until the first week of autumn?"  
"I was, but I decided to come back early."  
"Did you bring back any dragons?"  
"Yeah, I found two with injured wings, one with one of their leg cut off, and another that got stabbed in the eye. I've put them all in a cave for you to go look at."  
"Hello? Are we just going to forget that Imara almost killed Harry?" Niall hissed.  
"It was a misunderstanding," said Zayn as he climbed on Asiri and the curly hair girl on the white dragon. "We'll talk later, right now I have to go attend the dragons."  
They both took off and flew away.  
"Harry, you should of seen the look on your face! It was like 'AHH!' Louis laughed at him, playfully pushing him. The noble and the blonde rider turned around to face him and Niall punches the shaggy hair man in the shoulder, causing him to whimper.  
"Are you fucking serious? He could've been killed!"  
"Well, you didn't." Harry looked at him with a glowering face. "Oh, lighten up Harold! How's about I make you some tea? Nialler, go and grab the boy some warm clothes."  
The blonde man walked to Zayn's pile of clothes that he let the guys share and grabbed a gray tunic and a pair of olive green trousers. He handed them the gentle giant and pushed him further into the cave.  
"Go change behind one of the pillars and bring me your clothes to hang them dry” Niall says.  
The noble did what he was told and placed the garments on the ground. He started to remove his wet shirt from his torso and his trousers from his legs. He threw the clothes to the side, hearing them splat onto the ground. He took off his boots and peeled off the soggy socks from his feet, along with his wet underwear, and tossed them into the wet pile. The noble quickly put on the gray tunic and started to place his left leg into the pants.  
"Niall! You didn't give me underpants!"  
"Go commando!"  
"What? No!"  
"Fine, here!" he says and he tossed Harry a fresh pair. He caught it and slipped into the undergarment, then into the trousers. He grabbed the pile of wet clothes, walked over to Niall, and handed it to him.  
They both walked into the kitchen and found Louis serving up the hot tea into three mugs.  
"Here." he said as he handed the noble the mug. They both sat down on the wooden chairs while Niall went outside the cave to go hang Harry's clothes.  
"Thanks mate." He cautiously took a sip of the leaf water, and let the liquid warm his body from the inside. "Who was she anyway?"  
"Imara is Zayn's apprentice."  
"Apprentice?"  
"Yup, he's teaching her all his remedies to heal animals and people as well as how to care for the dragons." he says as he takes a slurp from his mug.  
"I could tell. She was ready to kill me and all I did was pet her dragon."  
"She really loves the beasts, especially her's. I would've done the same if I saw you near Vaara, but let's be honest, Vaara would have ripped your arm off before I came running towards you." Harry chuckled and drank some more. Drite, Vaara, Niall, and Filbert walked into the cave and made their way towards the table.  
"Found this little guy chasing some butterflies by the river and decided to bring them so they could keep you warm" the blonde rider says and he handed Harry the baby. Filbert licked their companion in his face as Harry began to pet them.  
"I mean, she could of just tied me up and searched the area." the noble said.  
"True, but like I said, she cares deeply for them and is willing to get her hands covered in blood."  
"Don't underestimate her. She may be small, but she can fight!" added Niall.  
"Well, she is not as good as me that I'm for sure of” Louis scoffed  
"I don't know, I think I'm pretty handy with a sword," they all turned around and saw Imara standing at the opening of the cave with her hands on her hips, "and an axe, a knife, a spear," she started to walk in as Sorja followed right behind her "I'm also pretty good with a bow and arrow and can knock someone out with my shield, but hey, I'm not as good and you and your one sword Lou." She smiled. "Anyway," she turned to face Harry "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I thought you were going to hurt Sorja, so I just went full on defense mode."  
The noble picked up Filbert and stood up.  
"Apology accepted," he held out his hand and she shook it. Imara looked at Filbert and petted him. She looked back at Harry and smiled, turning her heel, walking out of the cavern.  
"Oh, and by the way, Zayn has made me the one to teach you how to fight."  
"I thought Zayn was going to teach me?"  
"This is a punishment for me almost taking your head off, Niall and Louis, you'll be joining me as well, so eat well and get some rest, we start at sunrise" She said climbed onto the white dragon.  
"Sunrise, are you kidding me?" said the noble.  
"Nope, good night." she shouted as she extended the vowel and took off into the air, leaving all the guys speechless.  
***  
Imara and Sorja woke up before sunrise and made their way to the boy's cave. They walked past all the sleeping dragon, trying not to wake them. She walked in and saw all of them sleeping right next to their dragons. Louis had his upper torso leaned up against Vaara while Niall curled up next to Drite, using the yellow dragons wing as a blanket. She turned her head and saw Harry covered with blankets while Filbert was sound asleep onto top of the noble's stomach.  
"They look so peaceful" she whispered as she made her way over to Sorja and grabbed her sword and shield from the saddle. "RISE AND SHINE MY LOVELIES!", she shouted as she banged the objects together. Groans and curse words left the mouth of the boys along with the sound of growling coming from the dragons.  
"Come on now!"  
"Why so early Imara?" groaned the blonde rider.  
"Can't we do this midday?" added the shaggy rider.  
"You guys can sleep when you're dead, which might happen to curly if we don't start training him."  
"My name's Harry" he croaked from under the blankets.  
No one moved from their place and the curly haired girl was starting to get impatient. She put looked over at Sorja and sighed, "I've made breakfast."  
"I mean, you could've said that earlier" said Louis as he and the other rose from their sleeping position.  
She rolled her eyes and walked out of the cave shouting, "Come on, we aren't getting any younger!"  
The walked over to Zayn's kitchen and ate breakfast as they watched the sunlight slowly light up the inside of the cave. All the beasts arose from their slumber and walk out of their caves and made their way down to the river to eat breakfast.  
"There are so many dragons here, how do they not run out of fish!?" the noble asked as he ate his scrambled eggs.  
"Zayn made sure to find a place where it is filled with fishes and to his luck, this place always has school of fish passing through" answered the young girl.  
"So Imara, what are we going to teach Harold today? How to fight with weapons or fistfight?" said Louis.  
"Fistfight? Do I really need to learn that?" said the noble with a concerned look on his face.  
"Uh duh."  
"Sometimes, you are left weaponless and have to defend yourself with what you were born with" added Niall.  
"I'll let you guys know when we start. So hurry up and finish your food!"  
They all finished stuffing their faces and made their way down to the sea shore outside. Imara grabbed her equipment as did Niall and Louis and sent the dragons off to play.  
"Okay Harry, stand right here." Imara drew an x on the sand with her sword and walked away to the pile of sharp object that the riders were standing next to. He stood on the symbol and watched as the curly haired girl walked up to him and handed him an axe. He held it with both hands and watched as she grabbed herself a shield.  
"How does that feel?" she asked.  
"A bit heavy, but I think I could get used to it" he said as he swung the weapon left and right.  
"How 'bout you try swinging it with one hand?" as a smirk grew on her face. He dropped the left hand from the grip causing the hand with the ax to fall straight into the sand.  
"What about this one?" she trades the axe for a spear, "Throw it" she says.  
He held the weapon in his hand and it felt too light; he threw it anyway and it flew into the air and came straight down almost spearing Niall.  
"Hey!" the blonde rider shouted.  
"Sorry!"  
"A bit to light ay? Alright hold on." Imara grabbed her sword and gave to Harry. "What about this one?" The weapon was beautifully crafted and had the letter "I" in graved on the grip. He felt so comfortable, not too heavy nor too light. The noble swung it around a few times.  
"This one's it."  
"Cool, now hand it over."  
"But I thought we were going to start training?"  
"We are, " she grabbed the sword and gave him a helmet and some armor "but first, you need to be able to move in this." He looked at her then at the boys in the back.  
"Well what are you waiting for? Put it on."  
"I don't know which one goes on first?"  
"Louis and Niall, instead of standing there looking pretty, how about you help him out?"  
"Can't keep your eyes off ay love?" said Louis with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and said, "I've seen better"  
"You put on the gambizon first, it pretty thick, but even with it alone, you can get seriously hurt." said Niall as he helped him into it.  
"Next is the chain mail, this bad boy will stop most of the blows to the chest. The only bad thing is that it's pretty heavy" added the shaggy hair rider and helped Harry put it on.  
"Next is the belt, This is going to help take most of the weight off from your shoulders and onto your hips." said Louis handed him the strip of leather.  
"And finally some arm gear and my personal favorite, " she grabbed something from behind her back and placed it over his head ", the helmet" she said with a smile.  
"You expect me to run around and swing a sword with this on?"  
They all nodded in sync.  
"Now, I want you to run from the tree to that boulder 5 times back and forth." said Imara.  
"What?"  
"You heard me, Go!"  
Harry sprinted off and did what he was told as Louis and Niall laughed.  
"What are you to laughin' at? We are all running as well, get your amour and and do the same."  
"You're kidding?" said Louis.  
She grabbed her sword and pointed it in his direction. "No. Now go!"  
They spent three days working out in the amour, constantly being told to run up and down the shore and quick cardio movement. Zayn would join them after completing his daily task with the dragons. He would constantly bet all of them making them work harder. On the fourth day, Harry was already standing by the tree, waiting for the other riders.  
"Harry, why are you over there!?" Imara shouted.  
"Aren't we going to run today!?"  
"No! Come over." The noble walked over and was handed him a sword. "We start weapon training today." She grabbed a shield for herself and Harry.  
"Does it matter which hand I hold it in?"  
"No, whatever feels comfortable." She and the other riders watched as he kept switching them back and forth, eventually holding the sword with the right hand and the shield with the left.  
"Can I be his first opponent?" asked Niall eagerly.  
"Yeah go for it!" said Louis.  
The blonde rider grabbed an axe and stood in front of Harry.  
"No shield?" said the noble.  
"Oh right. Louis!" shouted Niall as the other rider threw him a shield and caught it without flinching.  
"Louis, that makes you my partner. Harry, watch what I do and I want you to do the same after I demonstrate it."  
The noble nodded and watched as Imara and Louis got into their positions.  
"So striking positions are the upper arms, the shoulders, the torso, and the upper legs." Niall lightly tapped each of these targets with his axe on Harry. "Now, do it to Niall."  
The gentle giant did so and lightly tapped the blonde rider's arm. "OW!"  
"Ahh!"  
Niall laughed, "I'm kidding!"  
"Next is your position. Always have the sword in front of you, so that it is always a danger for the enemy to come in. If the enemy moves forward, they will be hit. Any big movement that moves the sword away from the front will mean death."  
Imara and Louis demonstrated this and Niall and Harry copied.  
"When fighting, never just go straight forward. The enemy can and will easily block every move that you do. Instead, take side steps."  
"So, have the sword in front at all times and move side ways?" asked the gentle giant.  
"Correct, now as for the shield, besides from it helping you stop incoming weapon, you can also use it as a second weapon."  
She places her shield on to Louis's and pushes it upward showing how she can easily strike the rider's calf and behind the knee.  
"If he holds the shield flat and facing me, I can easy push mines on the side of his, making it turn, giving me easy access to his torso and into his ribs."  
Harry tries to concentrate and watch her every move as they demonstrate it a few times.  
"As for holding the sword, hold it delicately."  
"But, what if I drop it?"  
"The sword should be thought of as part of your arm. You wouldn't drop your arm now would you?"  
Harry looked so confused and overwhelmed by all the things he had to remember. Imara noticed this and walked over to him.  
"I know it's alot so we will start small and work our way up. They had to go through it,” she says pointing to Louis and Niall. “Zayn had to go through it, and I had to go through it. We all were in the same position as you, loosen up and don't get discouraged alright?" Harry sighed and nodded his head. She patted him on the shoulder and went back to Louis, continuing the lesson for the rest of the afternoon.  
***  
Liam was sitting at the very end of a table that seated 30 people, each filled with him and Demetri's closes friends. Everyone was having a good time and drinking the night away, laughing and tell jokes. Andy walked over from the small bar in the corner with drinks in his hands, trying not to spill the liquids.  
"Another round?"  
"Don't mind if I do. Here Charlie, have another!" Liam grabbed one of the drink and offered it to Charles.  
"No, I'm good."  
"Oh come on, Look, my birthday is in two weeks and we leave tomorrow, lets celebrate!"  
"I do not want to wake up with a headache tomorrow, besides I'm not really in the mood."  
"Suit yourself." Liam chugged the alcohol in one go as everyone cheers him on and encourage him to down another. Demetri walks in with his usual unpleasant look on his face, so everyone stops.  
"Don't mind me. Enjoy yourselves!" The party continues and the man walks over to where his nephew is.  
"Uncle!" he gets up out of his seat and goes in for a loving hug, patting him on the back. "Would you like a drink?"  
"Oh no, I want to be nice and sober for tomorrow. You should too." the man with the slick black hair wraps his arm around Liam's shoulder. "But I'll let you enjoy yourself" he says as he pats his nephew’s chest.  
Demetri walks over to speak to one of his friends and then walks to his wooden throne. He sits and watches everyone as the spill drinks and food all over the floor and across the room. Usually, he never lets this kind of celebration take place in his house, but he knew that he had to show everyone that he was willing to do this for Liam.  
"Soon, this will be all mine, " he thought. "I will no longer have to worry about my behavior in front of the people. I can finally this place as I intended to. With the people and my dragon army under my command, I will be unstoppable and ruler or the world." He grabbed his staff and stood himself up, he cleared his throat and everyone stopped in their tracks.  
"Liam" he calls out, making Liam walk over to him. He climbs up the steps and stands in front of Demetri. His uncle looks at him and grabs his shoulders. "We are here to celebrate your upcoming 21st birthday," he turns him around to face the audience "We have all seen grow before our eyes and watched how you transformed from a young boy to a young man. I was there when you first brought a girl home!" Everyone in the room cheered. "And I also saw how she left after 20 minutes because you could not stop staring at her breasts. I was there to offer you your first sip of alcohol and was there to watch you throw up afterwards." Everyone laughed as Liam blushed and shook his head. "Tomorrow, we leave to the forest in search of a dragon for Liam to kill. He will then come back and be named as chief! I will then be his second in command because Odien forbid that he put Andy!" Everyone ooed and laughed as Andy raised his drink to him. "Charles, you raised the boy along with me, want to say any words?" The whole room started chanting the word "speech" as Demetri's second in command walked over and stood next to them.  
"Liam, I have watched you grow up into a fine young man. I watched as you grew from a boy who was worried of what other thought of you to someone who speaks his mind. You grew up to be a fine young man who grew thick skin and determined. Whenever you messed up or were criticized, you did your best to improve and show that you can overcome anything. I know that you did all of this to make your family proud and for you to become a great chief like your father. I am happy that I had the chance to raise you and to have you in my life." Everyone awed and started making kissing noises. Liam went in for a hug and whispered thank you into his ear.  
"Everyone raise your drinks!" shouted Demetri. "To Liam!"  
"To Liam!" Everyone clanked their cups together and cheered. Liam put his arms around his uncle and Charles and brought them into a close, drunken hug.  
***  
Harry and the riders continued to teach the noble how to fight for the next couple of days. He was actually a fast learner an was able to last in a fight for more than two minutes, which was his all time record. Louis, Niall and Imara would give him little tips and tricks on what they do during a fight. Now, they started teaching him how to fight two enemies at the same time. Imara and Niall were Harry's enemies and Louis was telling him what to do since that was his specialty. As they were practicing, they heard a roar in the distance and saw Zayn and Asiri flying out of the mountain. They landed and made their way over towards them.  
"How's the training going?" the raven hair rider asked. The noble and his enemies stopped and turned their attention towards him.  
"Pretty well actually, Harry's a fast learner. We are already teaching him how to fight against two people!" Louis exclaimed.  
"That's good. I just came out here because I want to thank you guys for helping me with the dragons and taking your time to do that and this so Imara and I have gifts for you three." Zayn said as he grabbed some wrapped objects from his satchel.  
"Oooo presents! You didn't have to do that guys! " exclaimed Niall.  
"We don't mind." said Louis.  
"If anything, we should be the ones giving you gift for letting us stay here" added Harry.  
"You guys have made our job a lot easier and this is our way of thanking you" said Imara as she walked over to Zayn.  
"So for Louis," Zayn walks over to the shaggy hair rider, "I went to one of the near towns and got you new armour. I know how much you like the spikes on mine so now you have your own."  
"This is sick! It even has a cape! Wow!"  
"For Harry," Imara walked over to him, "I got you a saddle for when you can fly Filbert. They are getting bigger now and one day they'll be big enough to carry you!" she handed him the brown saddle.  
"And because you don't have your own sword, I got one for you." added Zayn.  
The noble put the saddle on his shoulder and grabbed the weapon.  
"It even as your initials engraved on the handle, because you've kept complimenting the ones on mine" stated the curly hair girl.  
"This is unbelievable!" said the gentle giant as he hugged them both.  
"Last, but not least, since you broke your old axe and have been using mine. I got you a new one!" exclaimed Zayn as he handed the weapon to the blonde man.  
"No bloody way! Thank you!"  
"Yeah thanks you!" said Louis and Harry.  
"So, Niall you can give me my axe now" said Zayn.  
"Umm, yeah about that, I sort of forgot it in Hosflond."  
"You what!? Niall!" shouted Imara.  
"I didn't mean it! I threw it at Liam because he was about to injure Drite. It dropped the sword out of his hand and we took off."  
"Niall, do you realize what that weapon was made out of? It is made of the trees that surround this island! If Demetri finds that weapon, he'll know where to look, discovering us and the dragons." added Imara.  
"Shit! I'm sorry I didn't know"  
"It's fine. We just need to make sure he does not find it." said Zayn.  
"Are you suggesting we go back there?" questioned Louis.  
"Yes."  
"Are you mad? We can't go back there" stated Louis as he and the others followed Zayn into the mountain.  
"Asiri, gather the dragons and put them all in their caves. Meet me in mine after" The red dragon nodded and flew off into the distance.  
"Are you listening to me? We can't go back there they know how we look like and we could get charged and possibly executed!"  
"That's not going to happen because I am going to go by myself."  
"Zayn, you can't do that." said Imara.  
"I know that place better than any of you four, so I have to go."  
"Listen to me," she grabs a hold of his arm, "everyone assumes that your family killed the Payne's. If they find out who you are, you and your family are as good as dead."  
Zayn stopped in his tracks.  
"Maybe, we don't have anything to worry about," Harry walked towards him "I mean, it was a month ago and if he is as good as you said he was, he probably would have done something by now."  
"Plus, we did do all those early morning scouts and didn't see anything" added Niall.  
"He probably has something planned and I am not putting all these dragons at risk."  
"We'll what are we going to do then? We can't go and you can't either."  
"I'll go," said Imara. Everyone turned around to look at her. "I've been there a few times to buy food and clothes. I blend in perfectly. Just tell me where to look and go."  
"Imara, I..." Zayn started to talk, but was interrupted by the girl. "I can take care of myself, don't worry. If you want to make sure these dragons are safe, I am the best chance you've got."  
He looked at her determined eyes and then looked at all the dragons surrounding them. He took a deep breath and sighed, nodding his head after.  
"Fine, but I am going with you." He stated as he started to walk towards his cave with curly hair girl following him.  
"What about us?" Louis questioned.  
"You guys are going to stay here and take care of the dragons while we're gone."  
"When are you guys leaving?" added the noble.  
"In an hour."  
"We should go with you guys,"  
"No, I need you three to stay here in case Demetri and his men are on their way here."  
The group arrived to the cave and watched as Zayn and Imara gathered their things. They watched as the raven haired man put his armor on and watched the curly hair girl sharpen their weapons. When everything was set, Imara called for their dragons and they climbed aboard.  
"If everything goes as planned, we should arrive by morning." stated Imara  
"I know that you three will guard these dragons with your life. Niall and Louis, I want you two to switch off in patrolling the island. Harry, make sure the dragons get plenty of food and water. Make sure they don't leave the island."  
"We will. Be safe." said Niall, while the other two nodded. The three watched as the dragon riders flew off into the distance.  
"And this is why we don't lend you things," said the shaggy hair rider.  
"Oh, shut up. It was an accident. I'll go patrol first for 2 hours while you two watch the dragons."  
"Sounds like a plan," said the noble.

***  
Liam sat on top of his horse as he rode alongside Demetri and Charles. They had about 50 men with them as they all made their way through the forest. The sun beamed on their faces, making everyone sweaty and red. Plus, the armor that they were wearing did not help either. Liam's uncle was talking to one of his men, leaving the other two alone.  
"Thirsty?" Charles asked as he took out a flask and showed him. "Charles! I am surprised, it's only midday."  
"Listen, Demetri is going to be a pain in the ass this whole trip. I know you want some." he said with a smile.  
"Toss it over." He caught the flask in the air, smelled the alcohol, and took a sip.  
"Are you nervous about becoming chief? It's a lot of responsibility you know?"  
"I know, but I think I can do it. I want to be like my father you know?"  
"I know, you always said that ever since you were young. But, I know you'll be a great chief."  
"I want to show everyone that I can be exactly like my dad. The villagers loved him and my family. I just hope I can make them proud."  
"Don't doubt yourself my boy. I raised you didn't I?" said Charles with a smirk.  
"Ha, yes, you did and you did a mighty fine job!"  
They continued to move along forward and reminisce all the times they spent with each other. "So, do you have any particular dragon you are planning to kill?"  
"I was thinking a monstrous nightmare or a hobble grunt would be great! But, we are going to Loki's Nest, so who knows what dragon we'll find." he said with a smile on his face looking forward.  
Charles, nodded. He then noticed something hanging out of Liam's satchel. An axe, but it was not his usual one. This one was different from the other ones they has. He should know, he made almost all of them. He made is way closer to Liam, to get a better look.  
"Liam, whose axe is that?" Liam turned around and looked down at his satchel. "Oh, it's from one of the riders that came and attacked us last month."  
"Why do you have it?"  
"Well, I was planning on using it to kill the dragon. Have a memento of my first kill, since I didn’t kill that rider’s dragon."  
"May I look at it?"  
"Yeah, here" he said, handing it over.  
Charles grabbed it and examined it. The wood was not from any of the trees near Hosflond, but he remembers making one like this for a young boy; same dragon design and everything. He turned it over and reads the initials "Z. M." He hitched his breath and instantly remembered.  
"What?" Liam cut into his thoughts.  
"Um, nothing it's just very beautifully designed. Did you happen to get a look at the rider who threw it?"  
"Yeah, he had light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Had an irish accent too." Charles sighed in relief.  
"Oh. Do you mind if I hold on to it? I want to draw a sketch of it. You know, so I can make one like this."  
"Sure, just give it back when you're done. Just so I can be ready when the times comes.”  
"Thank you," Charles said as he put the axe away in his bag.  
“Zayn's alive” he thought to himself. Which meant that his family, Asiri, and all of the other dragons and people might be alive as well. He made him his first weapon and smiled at the thought that Zayn kept it all these years. The wood on the weapon was from an island that he took Zayn to once, where he described how this would be a perfect place for dragons to live in peace. He looked at Liam and remembers how close the two were. He knows Zayn is not a bad guy, nor did he and his family kill the family. Demetri did, but Liam was and still is being brained washed by the son of a bitch. He wants to tell the young man everything, but he does not know how to without getting caught by Demetri. It’s not that he is scared to stand up to him, he just want to make sure Liam’s safe when it does happen. He has to think of a plan and fast. If he doesn't Liam is as good as dead and Demetri will officially run Hosflond causing him to become powerful and deadly.  
"Charles!" Demetri shouts at him, stopping his train of thought.  
"Yes?"  
"Go find us a near stream to stop at. The sun is killing us. If we don't stop soon the horses and I will faint."  
"Of course, sir, I'm on it.” But for now, he has to wait on hand and foot for this man.  
***  
Imara and Zayn land in the forest a couple miles from Hosflond. The sun had set about an hour ago, so everything was dark. All that could be seen was their dragons, bright eyes and their silhouettes in the moonlight.  
"Alright Zayn, tell me where to go while you stay with the dragons." she says as she jumps off Sorja.  
"No, I'm going with you."  
"Don't you remember that the people here think you and your family killed the Paynes?"  
"I know, but I am not going to just tell you where to go. I am going to lead the way and you just follow."  
"Zayn, you're going to get caught!"  
"I won't. Now here is what I need you to do when we go." He tells her as he puts on a long black coat. He grabs the hood and pull it over his head, which covers his brown, almost hazel eyes.  
“Okay, dark and mysterious one.” They start walking towards the location, leaving the dragons behind. When they start to see the light coming from the village, Zayn tells her to wait in the forest for 2 minutes and then follow him. She does so and walks into Hosflond. She scans through the crowd of people and finds him walking into a pub in the far left. She makes her way and enters the bar.  
Men and women are drinking and singing songs as she enters. The pub is dark with only some candles lighting the room. She remembers what her mentor had told her and sits at the bar.  
"Hello, what can I get for you?" A woman with her breasts almost popping out of her blouse greets her as she cleans a mug dry.  
"Hi, can I get a glass of water?"  
"You come into a pub and ask for a glass of water?" Imara nods. The woman shrugs and grabs a glass off the shelf and fills it up with water. She hands it to her. "You're not from around here, are you?"  
"No, I'm just passing through. I just finished school and my parents are letting me, explore the world before I get tied down."  
"Oh an arrange marriage, huh?"  
Imara blushed and nodded. She was thinking more of getting tied down to a job, but arrange marriage could work in this fake universe.  
When the women left to go serve a drink to another person, she took this opportunity to scan the room for Zayn. She found him sitting by himself in the corner with a drink in one hand, watching her.  
"So, have you meet your future husband?" The women says, causing her to turn around.  
"Oh yes. He’s very handsome. He has dark skin, color of caramel. With brown eyes and long brown hair. He has these eyes that practically pierce into your soul. Plus, he has a jawline that goes on for days" Imara says, causing them both to chuckle. She gives a quick look around the room again looking for something that could bring up Demetri. To her luck, she finds two paintings hanging on the wall: one with a man with slicked back hair and unpleasant expression and one with a young man with a beard.  
"Who are those two?" pointing at the paintings.  
"That's chief Demetri on the left and young, future chief Liam on the right."  
"Future chief?"  
"Oh yeah. He a good looking lad as well, but the chief took him and a few men out to Loki' nest in search of a dragon for Liam to kill."  
"Why a dragon?"  
"Well, since Liam was too young to run the village when he parents died, Demetri stepped in to help. To be considered chief, one must bring the head of a beast to Hosflond and present it to the elder. If the elder accepts, the one in line is placed as chief. "  
"How did his family die?"  
"Can you believe that their own help did it? Sent their dragon to set the house on fire leaving poor Liam alone. I always thought the Maliks were good people, but looks can be deceiving."  
"Oh,"  
"The boy is about to turned 21 in two weeks ago, so now he can become chief. I honestly thought that he was no longer going to even be considered to become chief after an attack, we had about a month ago."  
"An attack? What kind?"  
"Some dragon riders caused a disturbance and started attacking us. Liam was just about to slay a dragon when one of the riders threw an axe at him, causing him to drop the sword."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. The chief got so upset with him, he started yelling at him in front of everyone."  
"Did they ever find the riders?"  
"Oh no, they got away."  
"And the axe? Don't they usually grab whatever is left of the enemy and try to find out where the enemy came from?"  
"Usually, but after the whole incident, Liam picked it up and took it with him instead of one of Demetri's men"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah but, you know what? Before they left, Liam had the weapon hanging from his belt. Must ‘ave taken it with him for luck or something."  
After talking for a few minutes, the women left to attend another customer, leaving Imara alone. She looked over at Zayn and nodded at him. He nodded back and started to walk out of the pub. She was about to do the same when suddenly and drunken voice calls her.  
"Where are you going pretty lady?" She turned around and saw a young man with a scar on his face, sitting at one of the tables across the bar.  
"I'm leaving, but that's none of your business."  
"Ohh fisty now." Imara ignored him. She turned around and continued walking towards the door when the man grabbed her by the wrist and flung her around.  
"But, I don't want you to leave. Don't you want to know how I got this scar? It usually drives the women crazy!"  
"No, I don't. Now let me go!"  
"Well, I'll tell you anyway. See I was hanging out with my friend Liam here about a month ago. We were having a few drinks when these dragon riders started talking shit. So we had a bit of a fight and got this while fighting."  
"That's a great story. Can you let me go now?"  
"I don't get it, that story usually has the women falling on their knees and begging for more!"  
"Oh, shut up Mark, you got that scar from the broken glass that one of the riders threw at you. Plus, you guys didn't even win so just let the girl go." The bartender came back from the bathroom.  
"How about you mind your own business, you bitch."  
"Let the girl go, now."  
They turned around and saw a man with a black coat with a hood over his face. Imara sighed in relief.  
"Finders keepers, mate. This one's mine." he said as he eyed her up and down  
"She's with me."  
"Is this your boyfriend love?" he cooed at her.  
"I'm her brother, let her go or else."  
"If you don't let the girl go, you won't be allowed here anymore Mark!" the women shouted. He looked at her and noticed that everyone was now staring at them.  
"Here," the man with the scar threw Imara at Zayn. "Your loss curly! Don't come begging for me later" he laughed with the other men sitting at his table. She pulled herself away from her mentor and spit in Mark’s face.  
“I have a piece of horse shit better looking than you!” The man with the scar got up from his seat and was about to grab Imara, but Zayn pull out his dagger, gently pressing it on Mark’s stomach.  
“Touch her again and I’ll kill you” He said in a dark tone.  
Mark backed away and sat down. Zayn grabbed Imara by the shoulder and pushed her out the pub. He grabbed her by the wrist and they ran back to their dragons. They arrived and stopped to catch their breath.  
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"  
"I'm fine. I could have defended myself you know?"  
"Really?"  
"Yes, but that doesn't matter now."  
"Okay tell me where they have it. Is it in the city hall or with the army?"  
"Neither, Liam has it."  
"He what?"  
"Apparently after the guys left, Liam picked it up and took it home."  
"Okay, fine. That means we just have to sneak into his home and steal it back." he said as he climbed on Asiri.  
"He's not here Zayn."  
"What do you mean he is not here?"  
"Demetri took Liam and some men out to Loki's nest."  
"Why? They only go to Loki's nest when... His 21st birthday. Shit, I forgot." he said as he grabbed his hair in frustration.  
"Yeah."  
"Well, that's perfect, that mean the house is to our self and we can easily get it back."  
"She told me Liam was seen taking it with him."  
"Fuck! Really?"  
"Yes,"  
"What are we going to do? How long ago did they leave?"  
"She said about a week ago."  
"They probably went on horse, which means they are barely half way there."  
"So?"  
"We are going to follow them and get the axe away from Liam and Demetri."  
"Zayn are you crazy?!"  
"Yes,"  
"How are going to even pull that off without getting caught?"  
"I don't know. I'll figure it out on the fly over there."  
"Zayn we can't. They have about 50 men with them. If we get caught, we’re all dead."  
"And if we don't go now, the dragons in the sanctuary are going to be endangered."  
"You have to think this through, We can't have Asiri and Sorja with us, you know that. We need to go back to the island and bring Niall and Louis with us. The more people we have the better." He sat quietly and thought about it. 50 against 2 is not fair, even if they were good at fighting.  
"You're right. I'm sorry I just... I don't want innocent dragons getting injured that's all."  
"I know, I don't want that either, but you can't just go and jump into things without thinking about them first."  
"Yeah, let's go if we want to make it before they reach Loki's nest”  
Imara climbed onto Sorja. She turned around and saw Zayn smiling and smirking at her.  
“What?” she chuckled.  
“So is the guy you described in the pub, your dream man or something?” She rolled her eyes. “Because that was a very detailed description. It was like you were describing me.”  
“Don’t flatter yourself, I wasn’t talking about you. I consider you as my long lost brother anyway.” she said as she strapped herself in.  
“So then who?”  
“I just thought of a description on the spot okay?”  
“Alright, what ever you say” Zayn said as he climbed onto Asiri. They both took off and and went back to the sanctuary.  
***  
Louis and Vaara were patrolling outside the sanctuary. They both were walking along the shore when they heard a familiar roar is heard coming from the ocean and Vaara and Drite stop growling when they see Imara and Zayn flying towards the island.  
"Wow, you guys are back already?" stated the shaggy hair rider.  
“I need you and Niall to grab your weapons." Zayn shouted as him and Asiri fly into the mountain. The riders follow him and land in Zayn's cave, where Niall and Harry were waiting.  
" Hey, you're back! Did you guys get the axe?" said the blonde rider.  
"No, but I need you to get your armor and weapons ready. You and Louis are coming with us."  
The Harry, Louis, and Niall watched as Imara and Zayn scrambled to grab more supplies for their trip.  
"What's going on?" said Harry.  
"Liam has the axe and is on his way to Loki's nest. There are about 50 men with him and we need backup."  
"What?" stated the shaggy hair rider.  
"It's a long story Louis. I'll get into more detail on the way over there alright?"  
The riders then joined the other two and started packing their things as Harry stood there and watched.  
"You guys can't leave me here to take care of all these dragons. I'm just learning how to fight and fly dragons!"  
"We would take you, but we don't want you getting hurt. You're safer here." stated Imara. Niall looked and knew that Harry did not want to be left alone. The guy loved dragons to death, but taking care of a mountain full of them is too much for one guy to handle.  
"How about we take Harold, so he can see how we fight in a real battle. Who knows, maybe he'll even join in."  
"I don't know, I mean, who is going to take care of the dragons while we're gone?" added Imara.  
"Zayn, why don't you ask your family to watch them.”  
"That's true. Okay, Harry you're coming along. Grab your stuff. I'm going to fly and get my family. Be ready by the time I get back." He said as he climbed on Asiri and took off.  
"Harry, are you sure you're fine with coming?" the curly hair girl asked.  
"Yeah, I rather be with you guys."  
"Okay, Louis, help him pack. I'm going to go feed our dragons and make sure they are well rested before we leave." She climbed on Sorja with a basket full of fish and flew out of the cave.

Louis and Niall grabbed the noble's bag and started to fill it with extra clothes and blankets, while Harry gathered food in another. Imara sat beside a pile of weapons, sharpening them.   
"Do you know how long we are going to be gone?" Louis asked.   
"Well, it takes about three days to fly to Loki's Nest, but who knows how long it will be until Demetri arrive there." the young girl answered.  
"Your bag is packed and ready to go Harold!" stated the blonde rider.  
"Thanks, and I just finished packing up the last bits of food” He answered back, throwing the last bit of fruit into the bag.   
"Can one of you guys help me finish sharpening these before Zayn arrives?" Imara said. Louis sat down next to her and started to sharpen.   
"Harry, bring all the bags to the front of the cave while I round up the dragons." Niall shouted as he ran out the cave. The blonde rider stood on the edge of the cliff and whistled. The sound bounced off the walls of the mountain. A few seconds later, he watched the clan fly out of a cave and towards him. The beasts landed and followed him to the entrance. The noble stood there surrounded by all the bags. He grabbed a few and started to tie them onto each of the satchels. He noticed that Filbert wanted to carry one, so he gave him the lightest of the load and tied it onto his body.   
"The dragons and set and ready to go." shouted Niall into the cave.   
A roar filled the mountain. Harry turned around and saw Asiri and two other dragons entering the mountain. They landed in front of Zayn's cave and saw a man, women, and two young girls climb off the beast. Louis and Imara walked out, carrying weapons in their hands.  
"Is everything ready to go?" Zayn asked.  
"Everything is set." said Imara   
"Good. Quick introduction. This is my father, mother, and three sisters." They greeted the riders. "This is Harry; he's new to the group." Harry waved and smiled at the Malik's. " And you guys remember Niall, Louis, and Imara."  
"Oh, how can we forget!" his mother answered.  
"Great, so my cave is right here and the dragons are all asleep. They usually, " but he was cut off by his father.   
"Zayn, we've been here before. We know how to take care of the dragons. You guys need to go."   
"You're right, sorry, come on everyone!" he says as he turns Asiri around to face the riders. Imara and Louis handed everyone their weapons and quickly climbed aboard their companions. "Harry, you're riding with me. Filbert can go with Niall and Drite"  
The noble nodded and made his way over to Asiri; Zayn helped him up and he strapped himself in. The blonde rider called Filbert over and the baby was lifted onto his lap.  
"If you guys need anything, you know where we are heading."  
"We will. Be safe, alright?" His mother answered.  
He nodded and looked over to the other riders to make sure they were all ready, each of them responding with a thumbs up.  
"Let's go!" he shouted, giving Asiri the signal to leave. The red dragon and the other beast pushed themselves off and flew out of the mountain. 

**Author's Note:**

> The story on Wattpad is under the same title with the same user name as it is here FYI.
> 
> This is also a sort of test to see if people are interested in this story. Please leave a comment down below telling me if i should continue on or not. Also, constructive criticism is always welcome, it helps me improve and grow. Just please don't be too mean c:


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